


The Crystal Gem Sessions

by trashtrashtrash03



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), The Bright Sessions (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, a little tw for homophobia, lapidot - Freeform, pearlmethyst (barely), rose/greg - Freeform, rupphire, tw for abusive relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2018-09-18 11:10:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 37
Words: 49,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9381914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashtrashtrash03/pseuds/trashtrashtrash03
Summary: Doctor Rose Quartz is a very special kind of therapist, and her client base is certainly... atypical.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, this is my first work. You don't need to be familiar with the podcast The Bright Sessions to follow this story but it will get spoilery because I followed the plot pretty closely - so watch out for that if it was on your list of things to listen to. The story is almost completely written and stands at around 40k, so I should be able to update pretty regularly. I'm thinking a chapter a week. The Teen rating is mostly for language - nothing racy.  
> Let me hear what you think <3

The phone rang shrilly through the quiet of the office. “Dr. Quartz’s office, Pearl speaking” the prim woman behind the reception desk said pleasantly. “Oh, hello Greg.” She dropped her cordial, professional tone for something more caustic. “She’s in with a client now but I’ll tell her you called... No, actually, she has two more today after this appointment... Mhmm... Okay. I will... Goodbye Greg.” She put the phone down with only slightly more force than was necessary, and felt proud for it. She smoothed out some non-existent wrinkles in her practical pencil skirt, fixed the collar of her white button-down, and exhaled heavily. _Greg._

She was alone in the spacious waiting room at Dr. Rose Quartz’s office for atypical psychology, which had come to function as her second home. Dark wooden walls and a warm beige carpet with autumn sunlight pouring in from the west-facing windows. The room was lined with cushy chairs and little end tables that held comic books and magazines. Pearl smiled fondly. _No one reads those._

Through the window, she could see the trolley rolling by. The office was not far from the train tracks, which made it very easy to get to, if you could tolerate the green line. Pedestrians walking by, some hurriedly, like they were late to dinner in the square or eager to get home from work, some leisurely, coffee in hand, neck upturned to the tall buildings and old architecture.

While drafting a research grant on Rose’s behalf, she heard shouting from inside the appointment room. She glanced at the scheduler on her computer to check which client was in at the moment. _Oh, excellent._ Pearl huffed to herself. _I might as well order_ another _sitting room furniture set, from the sound of it._

On the other side of a thick, wooden door, two women were sitting across from each other in plush chairs. A large woman with pink curls cascading down her back chewed quietly on her pencil, occasionally jotting something down on the notepad in her lap, while a sturdily-built young woman ranted away.

“And there she was on the quad, just laughing. That poor girl was assaulted and she _laughed_. I swear to god, doc, I almost lit her up right there. I just- ugh how can someone just laugh about that?! I can’t believe- rRRR I just get so, so MAD – I – could – just – rrrGGGHHG!” She punctuated every word by beating her fists on the arms of the chair, which devolved into erratically flailing her arms in the air until she smacked the nearby desk lamp off the table.

Rose watched it fall with a clatter, her lips quirking up from her Therapist Face into a half-smile at her patient’s antics. This wasn’t the first lamp to bite the dust and it wouldn’t be the last. It should have thought twice before becoming a piece of furniture in a psychologist’s office. She made a mental note to move that end table across the room.

“Ruby, breathe. Take a moment to ask yourself if this is how you fall apart…” Rose said these words like a line of verse, a call and response that she knew Ruby would recognize.

Ruby’s shoulders sagged as she leaned back into her chair. She heaved a heavy sigh, “it’s not. It’s not. It’s okay. It’s okay.” Even behind a thick red headband, her natural curls bounced as she shook her head to clear away her angry haze. She leaned over to pick up the lamp, sheepish “Sorry, doc. I know it’s just a little thing but it just seems to- to matter so much.”

Rose shook her head slightly “Oh, Ruby, you don’t have to apologize for feeling your anger. In fact, feeling it is the only way to process it. You’ve been doing so well with the control exercises we’ve been working on. Look, you didn’t even leave any scorch marks this time.” Rose teased easily. Ruby felt her cheeks flush as she remembered a particularly bad session, directly following a ‘debate’ she had with her conservative father about some new pro-life legislation being passed. Both the debate and her session with Dr. Quartz had ended in flames. In the weeks following, Ruby noticed fire extinguishers placed strategically around the office – even Pearl had one behind the reception desk. It was kind of overkill, if you asked her. _Maybe the doc has another pyrokinetic patient_ … Ruby was gonna let herself think that. She tugged on the bottom of her simple athletic tank top with nervous energy.

Rose scribbled on her pad briefly before making eye contact with her patient. “What we need to work on is the difference between acknowledging your feelings, and perseverating on the incident. Now, let’s break it down. What was the worst part of that interaction, in your opinion?”

Ruby huffed an angry breath before responding “That girl watching the whole thing and laughing showed me that she had no sense of … sisterhood, for that girl. Like, sure, some people might have been able to laugh off getting slapped on the ass by a stranger on a bike, but obviously that girl was really uncomfortable. You don’t know shit about people, what if she’s an abuse survivor, or – or- ugh I don’t know, SOMEthing! There are a million reasons someone could be really harmed by something like that, and that girl looking on just laughed like it was no big deal! And honestly, to me, that’s even worse than the guy who actually hit her, is the girl who stood there and watched and laughed. It’s fucked up, doc.”

Rose nodded solemnly, and said “You seem to be very defensive of this girl. Would you have reacted this same way about anyone, or was there something about this girl in particular?”

Ruby scrunched her lips to the side, thinking for a moment. “I mean, I don’t know her as a person, but I guess I could kind of tell what she was thinking, and that made it worse. She was scared, like she hated what just happened – which, like, totally fair – but then she looked around and saw people laughing and I could just see it flash across her face that this was a joke, it was something meant to be funny, other people thought it was funny, and now she feels like her hurt is invalid, like she should be able to laugh it off but she can’t because something is wrong with her. She’s allowed to be uncomfortable with someone touching her, hitting her, even jokingly, without her go-ahead!”

“And would you say you relate to that feeling, on some level?”

“I guess so. I mean, you know how I get so angry about basically everything. Even things that didn’t happen to _me_. Even stuff that other people laugh at. And then, people get on my ass about how I’m too sensitive and I need to learn to take a joke and,” Ruby sputtered for a moment, face heating up “and, I dunno doc, it makes me feel like I’m not supposed to feel the things I’m feeling and then I feel even worse about it and then the whole thing, it just goes around and around and—“

Rose interrupted, understanding “Ruby, you feel so much. You are allowed to feel the way that you do, and you are valid.” At this, Ruby nodded and some of the tension left her shoulders. “I know that it overwhelms you sometimes, but I want you to know that it’s a beautiful thing, your sensitivity. I’m not trying to imply that the panic attacks you endure are worth it, but once you learn to ride through them and, eventually, circumvent them entirely, you will be unstoppable.”

Ruby waved away the compliment “Aw, shucks, doc, you just want to keep me coming back each week” Both women knew she was joking. Ruby and Rose had developed a solid rapport over years of regular sessions working on her anger issues. Rose would sometimes catch herself speaking less formally with Ruby than was quite proper, but she had more or less watched the girl grow up, and she couldn’t always help herself.

Rose smiled and stood, looking at the clock to confirm what she already knew: 5 minutes past. “Well, another hazard-free session. Next week let’s aim to work on your pyrokinesis a little bit more. Our powers are like muscles, we have to maintain them”

Ruby stood and snapped to attention before Rose, giving her a goofy salute “Aye aye, ma’am!” She did an exaggerated about-face and marched out of the appointment room. Rose shook her head endearingly, watching her go. “Ridiculous girl” she muttered warmly, with love in her voice.

Pearl looked up as Ruby barged out of the appointment room smiling. No matter what mood Ruby was in, she had the tendency to barge, as if her personality could barely fit through the doorway. But regardless, she was glad the girl was in high spirits (for her own sake and the sake of the brand new carpet). Pearl wished her a good evening, and with that, she was alone in the waiting room again. She pressed a finger to the intercom headset that allowed her to communicate with Rose “Hmm? No, she’s not here yet... Yes, of course. Oh, and Greg called... Nothing in particular, it seemed… Alright.”

As if on cue, a tornado of activity burst through the front door into the waiting room, heaving for air. “Yo P, is Ruby gone already?”

Pearl had to stop herself from grimacing at the nickname. She looked up, not recognizing the figure in front of her, but recognizing her voice and mannerisms “Yes, Amethyst. You know, one of these weeks you might catch her if you showed up to your appointments on time.”

Still heaving for air, she waggled her eyebrows at Pearl “Oh lay off. You just want me to hang out with you here in the waiting room.”

Pearl bristled visibly and found something on her computer screen to focus on “The doctor is waiting for you, Amethyst.”

Amethyst waited, watching Pearl for a second, but the receptionist seemed to have no intention of continuing the conversation, so Amethyst shrugged and waltzed herself into the appointment room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: body image issues

Rose was sitting behind her desk, writing notes with her right hand and twirling her left above a potted succulent, which was visibly growing new leaves. The room was not large, but it was cozy. There were flower boxes in every window, the furniture was lush and comfortable, the woods were dark and the overhead lights were bright and welcoming. A floral patterned carpet under two dark pink armchairs set the appointment area aside from the rest of the room. The doctor’s oak desk, where she stored all of her files, sat at the back of the room.

At the sound of the door closing behind Amethyst, the doctor looked up from her notes and stood, smiling. “Well, still not quite on time, but improvement is the name of the game.”

“Doc, if someone shows up for my appointment on time, you’ll know for sure it’s an imposter who’s stolen my image. Shoot to kill.” Amethyst pointed a pair of finger guns at Rose “bang bang!” and unceremoniously plopped down into the armchair.

Rose chuckled softly. “Speaking of your image, this is an interesting presentation” Rose took in the girl’s bobbed purple hair, the wide eyes set above high, defined cheekbones, the button nose, the long, thin legs and the dainty little waistline. Despite all this, she was wearing her normal ripped up black jeans and a purple tank top that kept slipping off of one of her shoulders.

“You like? I was running errands today so I wanted to get a little dolled up. You have no idea how much nicer people are to you when you’re pretty!” There was a barely noticeable bitter tone underlying the girl’s animated exterior.

“Well, I like this body just as much as the next, Amethyst, but I’ve told you time and again that you are perfect just the way you are. The way you _really_ are.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath about how your therapist _has_ to say that kind of stuff. But with a defeated sigh, her skin started to glow. Her hair frizzed out and grew down her back, her nose flattened and widened, her cheeks and hips filled out, her legs and arms became shorter and stouter, and there she was.

“Ah, now that’s the Amethyst we all know and love” Amethyst wriggled in her seat, uncomfortable with the attention, so Rose moved on. They talked casually for a time, discussing weather and news articles they’d read. The conversation naturally came to a standstill, so Rose pushed a bit further.

“So, last week we were talking about different coping mechanisms for when you feel yourself entering a negative spiral. Did you get a chance to try those out?”

A small nod. Amethyst the jokester was nowhere to be found. The girl in front of her was a softer, more genuine, more vulnerable facet of the same gem. Rose felt a small swell in her heart knowing that Amethyst must place a great deal of trust in her to allow this side of herself to show so easily. She waited for the girl to begin of her own accord.

“I guess the biggest one was after practice one day, the whole wrestling team met up with the softball girls and went for pizza. The pitcher is pretty cute, and I was trying to impress her, so I got everyone to dare me to eat a whole pie by myself. Which I did, no shapeshifting involved – that was natural-born skill thank you very much” Amethyst had let a little pride seep into her voice and laughed quietly at the memory. Her smile fell after a moment.

“Anyway, I was walking home after that, and on all the bus stops they put up these stupid bra ads. Aerie has this new thing where they don’t digitally alter their models anymore, and they’re trying to score ~bodyposi~ points by plastering half-naked Emma Roberts all over the goddamn city. ‘Naturally beautiful! No retouching needed!’ Which is great, I guess, like they definitely shouldn’t be photoshopping their models, but, I mean, c’mon. Putting a skinny blonde on a billboard and saying “there, we’re doing body positivity!” is just bullshit. Have you seen Emma Roberts?? She’s a literal Barbie doll! So there I am, waiting at the bus stop, bloated from eating an entire pizza, looking at this billboard, thinking ‘she’s not digitally altered, so that means I should be able to look like her. Tall and skinny and white and blonde and _fucking_ perfect.’ I think I accidentally shapeshifted into Emma Roberts for a second.” Rose’s eyes widened slightly. “Don’t worry, I was alone, no one would have seen me. But yeah, I started doing that thing where I pick apart every little thing that I don’t like about myself. I tried a couple of the coping things you taught me, but the one that works best is when I picture my friends proving me wrong. Like, if I start to think about my thick thighs and stretch marks and belly rolls, I picture my wrestling girls hooting and hollering in the training room when I break a new lifting record. If I’m sitting there thinking about how I wish I was light-skinned, I picture Ruby sitting next to me at the beach, holding up her arm next to mine and whining about how my skin is darker and she can’t seem to get enough sun to catch up. I dunno. It helps.” Amethyst looked sheepish, almost like she felt guilty for allowing herself to improve.

“Well, that’s excellent. Has that tactic worked for you every time you’ve tried it so far?”

“I mean… yeah, but. I don’t always do it. Sometimes I don’t remember to do it, or sometimes – oh this is really fucked up, doc – sometimes I remember that it works well and I choose not to do it because I feel like I don’t deserve to feel better. Yeah, those are usually the times I end up drunk.” Amethyst seemed to be getting smaller as she spoke.

Rose smiled sympathetically “I’ve seen those Aerie ads and I had the very same thought. Our society has a way of putting the Emma Robertses of the world on a pedestal, and letting the Amethysts fall through the cracks. But, while neither you nor I could ever look like Emma Roberts, there is beauty in all body types.” Amethyst rolled her eyes, having heard this spiel a million times, but Rose continued. “No, it’s true. There are beautiful people of all shapes and sizes, but capitalist media chooses to elevate one size class above the rest of them, and people follow blindly in the wake. Finding beauty in yourself is kind of a protest in and of itself.”

At this Amethyst brightened “Yeah… yeah it is! Aw fuck, that’s so true.”

Rose laughed along. She knew she could get through to Amethyst’s anarchist side. “So just keep that in mind next time you see that ad. There is a group of fat cat businessmen sitting around a table in a board room, and they _need_ you to feel insecure.”

“Well FUCK that! Hahaha, screw you, I can look however I want and I want to look just like this!” Amethyst hopped up on her chair and billowed herself up into the shape of a hippopotamus. Rose laughed along, happy to have brightened the mood. By no means were Amethyst’s image issues resolved, but she hoped to have given the girl something to buoy herself back up when things got dismal.

“Come back, darling, you’ll break my chair. I just got a new one after _someone_ – whose name of course I cannot disclose – burned up my last one.”

Amethyst the hippo laughed herself back down to Amethyst the human. “Classic Ruby.”

“Now, if you don’t mind Amethyst, I’d like to devote some time to exercising your ability.”

“Aw, yeah! This is my favorite part!”

And so the remainder of the appointment passed with Amethyst stretching and molding individual body parts to the extent of her ability, with Rose observing, giving guidance, and taking notes on her limits and new records. At Rose’s coaxing, Amethyst tied each of her fingers into individual bows, turned her skin every color of the rainbow, and shrunk down to the size of a gnat.

“That was excellent, Amethyst! That’s the smallest you’ve ever been! How are you feeling?”

“I’m pooped, doc. I could probably shift my hair right about now, and nothing else.” Amethyst had explained to Rose early on in their time together that shapeshifting took a toll on her. Like the tingly, weak feeling right after a work-out but before the soreness sets in.

“Well, thank you for putting in such a good effort today. Remember to practice your shifting in private places. Even little things, like muscle isolations and hair manipulation, will keep your ability sharp.” Rose stood and herded Amethyst out of her office, wishing her a good evening. She briefly poked her head out to address Pearl, “Pearl, sweetheart, you can just send in the new client right when she comes in!”

Pearl looked adoringly at Rose and nodded, paying no mind to Amethyst until Rose disappeared behind the thick wooden door.

Amethyst leaned her forearms on the reception desk. “P, can you just give me Ruby’s cell number? I know she wouldn’t mind, I just gotta ask her for a favor.”

Pearl looked personally offended that Amethyst would ask that of her “That would be such a breach of client privacy! Of course I will not do that.”

“Not even for me?” Amethyst batted her eyelashes and allowed her hair to form pink, rosy, flowing curls cascading onto the desk between her and Pearl. The receptionist blushed violently and fixed her eyes on her keyboard.

“Goodbye, Amethyst”

_Yikes. Too far._ Amethyst cut her losses and left, sheepishly, after returning her hair to its normal state.

On her way out the door, she nearly bumped into someone coming in. The newcomer looked only a couple years older than Amethyst, and was about the same height. She had her dyed blue hair braided back, with bangs that only extended halfway down her pale forehead. Amethyst couldn’t tell if it was a choice or if the hairdresser had messed up. She noticed one of the girl’s blue eyes was cloudy and unfocused.

“Sorry” the blue chick mumbled and slid past Amethyst into the waiting room to check in with Pearl. “Hi, I’m here for an appointment with Dr. Quartz?”

“Yes, of course. Would you just confirm the information listed here?” Pearl handed the girl a clipboard, which she briefly scanned.

“Yeah, it all looks good, except my last name is Gem with a G, not a J”

“Oh, I’ll go right ahead and fix that in the system. You can go right in through that door, dear”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for homophobia (it's pretty mild)

Sapphire hesitated near the door, thinking she should be sitting in one of the two armchairs in the center of the room, but not wanting to assume. Fortunately, she only had to wait a moment before a mountainous swirl of pink and white turned away from the flower box near the window and addressed her.

“Hello! I’m Dr. Rose Quartz, you must be Sapphire! Come, please, sit. Can I get you something? Some water, maybe?” She beamed at Sapphire as if she was the best gift of Christmas. It was a little alienating, but sincere. The woman’s whole presence was like that. She was very tall and heavy-set, with big, honest eyes. She was very pretty. Her billowing pink dress would have looked comical on anyone outside the renaissance faire, but for some reason Sapphire couldn’t picture her wearing anything else. _Interesting._

“No, thank you.” she strode towards the chair closest to the door.

“Well, then, let’s just get started!” With this Rose settled in the chair across from Sapphire. She took in the girl’s blue babydoll sundress, black wire choker, and blue lipstick. Her pastel blue bangs were almost comically short, but Rose had noticed plenty of college-aged girls styling their hair like that. It did a good job of emphasizing her big, blue eyes. Well, eye, as the left one was unfocused and clouded with disuse.

“So, Sapphire, what pronouns should I be using for you?”

“She and her, please.” Sapphire could taste sweet, petty triumph welling up at the back of her throat. Her mother dragged her to a therapist and the first question the doctor asks is about gender pronouns. _Fuck you, mom._

“I also use she-her-hers.” The doctor smiled sweetly, and Sapphire surprised herself by genuinely smiling back. “So, obviously choosing to seek therapy is a big choice. What, in your opinion, is the main reason you chose to schedule this appointment?”

“Well, my mother insisted I see someone, and I saw your ad. Atypical psychology. Probably better for business than typical psychology.” Sapphire commented drily. Rose wanted to laugh at the quip but she maintained her Therapist Face. After a small eyeroll, Sapphire continued, “my mother thinks I’m schizophrenic”

“And what makes her think that?”

“Well, ever since I was little, I’ve … seen things. Hallucinations, she calls them”

“Do you believe you’re hallucinating?”

“No, I don’t think so. It’s not like in the movies, where I have voices in my head, or I see things in front of me that aren’t there. I used to think they were dreams. I would See for a minute, and when I came back to the real world I figured I’d just dozed off. They started off really short when I was younger, just flashes of light and sound, so it was no big deal. But as I got older, the dreams got longer and I started to recognize people, places, events. And sometimes, not always, but sometimes, the things that I Saw would happen. You probably think I’m crazy – my mother certainly does – but I’m confident that I’m psychic.”

“Oh, Sapphire, I don’t think you’re crazy at all. When you have a, erm… well, an episode, are you at all aware of your surroundings?”

Sapphire shook her head “I’m somewhere else entirely. Like I said, I used to think they were dreams. Like, when you’re dreaming at night you have no concept of what your bed feels like.”

Rose nodded “Very interesting. And what sorts of things do you see?’

“Honestly, it varies so much. Some days, I just change and get ready for class. Some days, I’m watching people I’ve never met sneak around some high-security facility that I’ve never seen or heard of. Sometimes, I see and feel something I don’t even understand, like I’m watching the vision through the eyes of multiple people at once.”

Rose jotted down some notes. “And you said you’ve been having these episodes for the majority of your life?”

“Yeah, at least the past 15 years. The first one that I can remember came after my dad died. It was so bright and loud, and I was really confused.”

Rose scribbled more notes before continuing, “So, is there a particular reason your mother chose now to set you up with a counselor?”

“Well she didn’t know about any of this stuff until I accidentally told her.”

“Accidentally?”

Sapphire smirked. _Here we go._ “We were eating dinner and she was talking about how an intern at her office had just married another girl. ‘Unbelievable! Disgusting! This is unheard of!’ Going on and on and on. Now, I haven’t come out to her, so I’m trying to just bite my tongue and let her burn herself out about the atrocity that this lesbian intern has committed. And then, I was somewhere else -- I was Seeing. Episoding. Whatever the hell. Anyway, in the vision I saw myself with a girl.” Sapphire felt her cheeks color as she continued “Like, _with_ her. I think we were in my old room at my mom’s house. She, my mom that is, walked in on us and fainted, and it sounded like she hit her head really hard. Anyway, I came back to the present and mother was still blathering on about the sanctity of Traditional Marriage. Part of me thought that if I came out to her right then and there, I could avoid that vision which included her possibly getting seriously hurt.”

She coughed, before continuing. “Part of me knew that I just wanted to do it to spite her and I finally had a legitimate reason to hide behind.” Sapphire exhaled sharply out of her nose, laughing without laughter. “Anyway, I did it. I interrupted her midsentence and told her that I’m gay. She swatted me away completely, saying, like ‘oh nonsense, you just want to upset me, how can you even know at your age, blah blah blah’ so, I snapped. I told her everything. ‘Ever since dad, I’ve been having psychic visions. I saw my new nannies before I met them, I saw which college I was going to wind up at, and I’ve seen myself fucking a girl in my childhood bedroom and giving you a literal aneurism.’ She didn’t like that last bit too much” Sapphire said with a dark smirk. “Anyway, here I am. A basket-case, here for conversion therapy.”

Rose took all of this in, writing down notes about details she would like to explore further in future sessions. Probably the most concerning thing to Rose was the way Sapphire explained a very emotionally charged situation with such a cavalier attitude. Coming out to one’s homophobic mother is not something to be taken lightly. Either Sapphire was very well-adjusted, or highly emotionally repressed. _Statistically speaking, it’ll be the latter. Continue to investigate._

“Sapphire, I am here to help you either dispel or cope with these intrusive visions, but if your mother expects me to bippity-boppity-bring her a heterosexual daughter, she’ll have wasted her time. Love is a beautiful thing and there is nothing wrong with you for the way you love. I hope you know that?”

Sapphire waved away Rose’s concerns, rolling her eyes. “Please. I’ve known since I was little that I preferred princesses over princes. And, like, sure it bites that my mother is homophobic, but it doesn’t really matter because she’s never been much of a mother anyway. The people I surround myself with don’t have a problem with my sexuality, and that’s the kind of family that matters.” Sapphire said this confidently, as if she had already managed to surround herself with loving and accepting people. She didn’t think it mattered much that she only had cordial acquaintances at best, because she had had so many visions brimming with warmth and love and acceptance that she knew it was coming someday. Rose seemed satisfied with her answer.

“Have you noticed any pattern in the comings and goings of the episodes? A certain set of circumstances that brings them on?”

Sapphire considered the question while fidgeting with her nails. “I don’t think so? I’ve never really thought about it. I guess I’ll try to keep track from now on…”

“Excellent! Maybe we can identify the stimulus for these episodes, and with that, learn to take control of them. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to learn a little bit more about you?”

And so Sapphire regaled Rose with her life story, all the while using the tone of voice one might use to order a salad at their least favorite restaurant. She told Rose about how her father had raised her while her mother worked a high-powered 9-5, until he fell ill. Sapphire was 6 when he passed away and unceremoniously dropped her into the lap of a businesswoman who had to quickly reinstall her maternal instincts. Her mother seemed surprised and largely inconvenienced to find that her daughter was still a child, as if she would have preferred to have given birth to a young adult and just skipped the whole messy bit. She explained that she was essentially raised by a revolving door of nannies. “It’s probably for the best. Anyone who stuck around longer than a week would have starting noticing how I would completely check out in the middle of a conversation, or stop dead in my tracks and stand stock still for a few minutes. Combine that with my zombie eye, and I’m sure you can imagine why I was the most popular girl in school.” Rose scribbled a note on her pad. _The sarcasm is strong with this one_.

Before they knew it, the clock chimed the end of another hour. Rose and Sapphire exchanged “thank you”s and “nice to meet you”s before Sapphire exited quietly and Rose sat down at her desk to work on the files from her day’s appointments.

Sapphire approached Pearl’s desk quietly, waiting to be acknowledged. The receptionist tapped away at her keyboard for another few seconds before looking up, wearing her polished customer service face.

“What can I do for you, dear?”

“Well, I think my mother only scheduled me for this appointment, but I wonder if I might book myself in for this same time next week?”

Pearl returned her attention to the computer screen in front of her, checking the scheduler. “Why, of course. I’ll go ahead and schedule you in. You should get a confirmation email.”

Sapphire thanked the woman and left, finding herself looking forward to seeing the doctor again next week.

_What a polite young woman!_ Pearl thought to herself as she watched the door close behind the girl. Rose came out of her office into the waiting room.

“That was my last for the day, right, Pearl?”

“Yes! And the new client, Sapphire Gem, asked for another appointment for the same time next week.”

“Oh, excellent! I think she may be atypical. Of course, I’ll have to tread very lightly with her before I can discern for sure, but I do think she’ll be joining us for the long-term.” Rose’s joy was contagious. Pearl could feel her heart soaring, just hearing Rose dote over all of her clients as if they were her own children. Rose had so much love to give, it was astounding.

“Oh! I nearly forgot, I should call Greg before I start reviewing tomorrow’s files!” At the mention of Rose’s husband, Pearl’s face fell.

“Yes. Well, I’ll wrap up these emails and then I think I’ll head home for the day.”

“Of course! Have a good evening, darling!” Rose, for all her psychological knowledge and empathy for her patients, was obstinately blind to Pearl’s feelings. Pearl sighed heavily and turned back to her computer.

On the other side of the door, Rose was sitting at her desk, listening to the phone ring.

“It’s a Wash, this is Greg!”

“Hi honey! Pearl said you called earlier?”

“Rosie! Hey baby. I just had a slow moment and figured I’d give you a ring. Guess what?”

Rose couldn’t help but grin “What?”

“Steven said his first word today! It was bubble!”

Rose laughed, “Greg, darling, he’s already had a first word. It was mama, then daddy.”

“Well those are every kid’s first words, this was his first _other_ word!”

The couple chatted happily back and forth until the light through the office windows began to fade. Rose told her husband to keep her dinner warm, before ending the call and sitting down to her files. The two appointments scheduled for tomorrow sat at the top of her stack. Lazuli and Farid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The word Peridot derives from the arabic word "faridat" , which means "gem".


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love hearing that you're all enjoying the story! I appreciate every comment. <3

“Hello, Lapis! Come on in. Can I get you something?”

“Are you going to offer me a glass of water?” Her tone was dry as a desert.

Rose shook her head, laughing quietly, “No, I suppose not.”

Lapis curled up in the large armchair, trying to make herself look small, which was not hard. Lapis was not short, but she was skinny as a rail. She had fine features and short hair, she wore loose-fitting clothes and no makeup – everything about her appearance screamed ‘don’t look at me.’

Rose sat across from her and began cautiously. “How are you feeling today?”

Lapis squinted at Rose, as if she was trying to convince herself that she had actually heard correctly. “Great.”

Rose remained unfazed by her sarcasm. “Last week we were discussing the possibility of your becoming emancipated from your parents. Have you given that any more thought?”

Lapis huffed. “I’m not sure it’s worth it. I did all the research, and basically, it’s going to be a major headache. There’s no way my parents will consent to my emancipation, so I’d have to go the court route, which means legal fees, a super toxic home environment leading up to the trial, and then I might not even win the case. I mean, in order to get emancipated, the judge has to be convinced that I’m safer out in the world by myself than in my own home, and like, I’m not really in a good place mentally to get a job. I’m barely passing my classes, so that won’t bode well in court. And if my parents kicked me out today, I’d have literally nowhere to go.”

“Yes, they don’t make it very easy. It almost seems to be working against you, the way the system denies emancipation to minors who are showing the most symptoms of an unhealthy home life.”

Lapis snorted. “You’re telling me. Anyway, once I graduate high school, I can do anything. I can move, I can enroll in community college, I can get out. It’s just one more year – as long as I keep my head down, I should be fine.”

Rose was obviously not satisfied with that solution. “I’m sorry you’re feeling so trapped. No one deserves to be born into a family based on conditional love. I’m afraid this is a bit outside my area of expertise. You know, I do have some colleagues who specialize in family counseling. I can have Pearl give you their information?”

Lapis considered this for a second before shaking her head, “No, they wouldn’t let me keep coming here if I started to see someone else regularly.”

“Well, Lapis, I think addressing the problems in your home life should take a higher priority than the work that we do here. Even if your parents prevent us from having usual sessions while you see the family counselor, we could certainly recommence after you move out.”

“No. I’m sorry Dr. Quartz, but I don’t want to give this up. Coming here once a week reminds me that there are people like me. I hate hiding myself from everyone all the time, and this office is the only place I really feel safe.”

Rose took a moment to write down those words verbatim so that she could frame them later and hang them on her mantle. After a moment’s thought, she assumed a conspiratorial tone. “What if they didn’t know you were seeing two different counselors? I don’t usually condone deceit in any form, but I could probably… defer some of your insurance paperwork, to make it seem like our appointments have stopped. At least until you find yourself in a safe situation?”

Lapis’ eyes lit up, “You think that could work?”

“I think considering the gravity of the situation, the benefits outweigh the risks.” At Lapis’ agreement, Rose asked Pearl via intercom to compile a list of family counselors for her perusal.

“Now, I’d like you to tell your parents that I’ve recommended _all three_ of you set up a session sometime this week. This time next week, you come back here, and we’ll have an hour-long ‘informal chat’ about how it went. Understood?”

“Will do! Thanks, doctor!” Lapis seemed to be more hopeful than Rose had seen her in some time.

“So, we have about half the time left. Would you like to talk a bit more, or practice?”

Lapis rolled her eyes and stood without answering the question.

_Why did I even ask?_ Rose asked herself, standing also. She led Lapis across the room to her desk. “Okay, last time you seemed to have a solid grasp on manipulating standing water. Today, I’d like to experiment with some different liquids with water as a constituent.” Lapis nodded, and Rose pulled out a few bottles from her desk. While she poured each liquid into a separate container, Lapis drifted over to the opposite side of the desk.

“Alright. I’m not going to tell you what each liquid is, but we’ll see how you respond to each one. I’d like you to form a rose for me, please.”

Lapis pictured the long, thorny stem of a rose connecting with the ample blossom, pictured each individual rose petal layering and layering outward from the center. She directed her attention to the first glass, which sprang up in the exact image of the rose she had envisioned, thorn for thorn, petal for petal. She felt a tingle in her spine, exquisite relief. Oh, she loved flexing these muscles. “That one is just water, isn’t it?”

Rose shrugged, “Every good experiment starts with a control. Beautiful form, by the way. Keep going.”

Lapis nodded, turning her attention to the second glass. Another clear liquid, with bubbles. She coaxed up a rose, which looked mostly like the picture in her mind’s eye, but not quite perfect like the first one. She felt deep down that something was just the tiniest bit off, like looking at a painting that you _know_ is crooked, but you can’t figure out which way to tip it.

“Interesting. The carbonation seems to interfere slightly.” Rose mumbled to herself, writing notes, before looking back up at Lapis, “Seltzer. Still a wonderful likeness. Continue.”

And so they carried on. Lapis managed to make something almost flower-shaped out of orange juice, bleach, and vinegar. A glass of salt water produced the same perfection as the fresh water, which excited Rose very much. The final glass of liquid did not react at all. No matter how hard Lapis focused, she could not make the face of the liquid even ripple.

“Olive oil. I didn’t expect your power to extend to hydrophobic liquids, but I wanted to be certain.” Rose could see that Lapis was unsettled by her inability to command the oil. _Time to return to her comfort zone._ “Do you think you can make two roses at once? I’d like to compare the freshwater and the salt-water side-by-side.”

Lapis rolled her neck out before refocusing on the glasses in front of her. She summoned two lovely, thorny, detailed roses out of two glasses, and held them up for Rose to examine.

“Beautiful! And as far as I can tell, completely identical! This is a very interesting result. It seems you have equal command over fresh and salt water.”

“I have always liked the beach.” Lapis joked.

Rose enlisted Lapis’ help in cleaning up their experiment. She moved to pick up two of the glasses, but suddenly all of the liquid flew into the sink in the adjoining bathroom. Her glasses were clean and dry, all except for one.

“Ta da. You can clean out the one with the olive oil.” There was a playful bite in the girl’s voice, but Rose decided that she deserved it.

Lapis walked out to the waiting room, where Pearl had a list of referrals waiting for her. Rose came out to join them after just a moment, looking over the list briefly. “Oh, I would call her first, she and I went to school together and she had such an amazing way with parent/child relationships. Oh, or this one. She works long hours, I’m sure she could see you within the next week, anytime your parents are available.” Rose starred two names on the list that Pearl had printed out, and wished Lapis a good evening.

Pearl waited for the girl to shut the door behind her before turning to Rose. “Is Lapis leaving the practice? Should I cancel her future appointments?” This was certainly not normal. Once someone had become self-aware about their powers, they rarely got referred to another doctor. Pearl was certain none of the doctors on that list were aware of atypicals at all.

“Oh, nothing like that. Lapis will be coming back, but our appointments will be something less… formal. Off the books, if you get my meaning.” Rose sent Pearl a guileful wink, before whispering “Trust me!” and disappearing into her office once again. Pearl stared at the closed door for a moment, before returning to her work as if nothing had happened. It was the only way to operate in this line of work.


	5. Chapter 5

Pearl looked up from her computer to see Peridot bustling into the waiting room. Pearl fastidiously powered down her devices; this had become a regular policy after Peridot came in for her first appointment and accidentally accessed all of the patient data for the entire practice. That was a nightmare in terms of paperwork. _Damn confidentiality law_. She told Rose via intercom, “Ms. Farid is here, doctor… Yes, I just did… Of course.” Addressing the young woman, Pearl said “The doctor is waiting, dear.”

“Thank you, Pearl.” Peridot said her name the way a doctor addresses a nurse: respectfully, but with superiority. The young woman took a moment to fuss with her lime-green hijab before entering the appointment room. Pearl rolled her eyes and gathered her things together. She wasn’t going to get any work done in the next hour, so she might as well get herself some coffee.

“Hello, Dr. Quartz!”

“Hello, Peridot.” Rose shut her phone off before coming to sit across from the young woman. “Water?”

“Please.” The doctor handed over a glass filled with cold water. Peridot cupped the glass with both hands to maximize the contact area between her fingers and the smooth, cold surface. She rubbed her thumbs up and down the glass, reveling in the way her fingers glided through the condensation. She had not even taken a sip.

“Tell me, how have your classes been?”

“Ehh, they’re okay. The material is interesting, but there’s so much noise in those big lecture halls. Everyone has their computers and their phones and I can’t help but hear all of them. Listening to people taking notes is like the professor’s words echoing a hundred times. It’s difficult for me to learn that way.”

“Well, have you talked to your professors about accommodating for that?”

“And said what?? ‘Hello, professor, I have superpowers so I can’t focus in a room full of 200 laptops; can we have 1-on-1 lectures?’” Peridot took off her oversized, yellow-tinted glasses and cleaned them with the hanging fabric of her hijab.

“Of course not, but professors have to make the learning material accessible to all of their students. Who’s to say you don’t have an auditory processing disorder?”

Peridot cocked one eyebrow at the doctor before replacing her glasses.

“You know what I mean, Peridot. I recommend going to office hours or emailing, asking for lectures to be taped or written notes to be made available. If they need any kind of documentation on your end, you can call here and Pearl will sort that all out.”

“Hrm, yes, maybe I’ll try that. Anyway, I’ve been thinking of changing my major.”

“Oh, to what?”

“Engineering.  Like I said, the material in my physics classes is interesting, but it’s all very theoretical. I think I’d excel at something slightly more tactile.”

“Well, do you know what I just read the other day? No one is graduating from college with degrees in logistics engineering. Big companies like UPS can’t seem to find enough people to hire. The starting salary for that was unbelievable.”

“Ooh, logistics, huh? I’ll look into that! So that’s about, like, organizing stuff, right? Sorting things by their categories and making sure everything goes according to plan?”

Rose giggled, “To my knowledge, yes. It definitely sounded to me like something that would be right up your alley.”

Peridot nodded, excited. She was definitely going to google that when she left here.

“So, we’re coming up on your one-month anniversary of coming to the US! Have you started to feel more at home here?”

“If by ‘at home’ you mean comfortable, then I would definitely say no, but I think that’s okay because I never really felt comfortable back in Egypt anyway.”

“Is there something in particular that’s been making you uncomfortable?”

“Emmmm, I don’t know. I never felt a kinship to the people back home. It was made very clear to me that there was a rift between me and everyone else. I don’t know, I never felt like I had anyone on my side of that rift. Here, it’s just the same.”

Rose grimaced, “Yes, people can be cruel, sometimes without even knowing they’re doing it. I can’t speak to your experiences back home, but what I can tell you is that this city is full of people. Every single person is different. And if you want to, I’m absolutely certain you can find someone who stands on your side.”

“But where should I look?? Where will I find them??” she groaned.

“I don’t know, dear, but the best advice I can give you is to be open to these things. People are messy, and amorphous, and unpredictable, but that’s what makes us interesting, right?” Rose quirked a smile. Peridot grumbled a bit, reaching again for the sweating glass of water she had still not drank from. “Now, last week I gave you some grounding exercises to practice in a technological area. Did you do that?”

Peridot nodded, excited. “Yes, and they’re working! I went to the campus library and sat down near a huge computer lab. There has to be 50 machines on the first floor alone! Not to mention everyone using their own laptops and their phones. I sat down, closed my eyes, and heard.” Peridot smiled at the memory. Trying to focus on physics over the din of laptops in a lecture hall could be dizzying, but passively letting the sound of the library computers wash over her was actually enjoyable. She could feel herself being surrounded by binary data – everything either a 1 or a 0. The world seemed so much more manageable that way. “At first it was overwhelming, like when you first turn on your music but your headphones are way too loud? But after that initial jolt, I adjusted, and I did that grounding thing you taught me. I paid extra attention to pressing my feet down on the floor, pressing my hands into the seat-“ she demonstrated for Rose, pressing down on the armchair with her hands. “And after a minute, I felt a lot more in control. Less like I was getting lost in all of the information.”

“I’m so glad to hear that tactic works for you! There are some others, if you’d like to try them out. A common one is reciting truths: My name is Rose Quartz. I am 29 years old. I was born in Empire City. I can control organic life.”

Peridot nodded, interested. “My name is Peridot Farid. I am 18 years old. I am technopathic. I was born in Giza. I’m autistic.”

Rose nodded “Good. If you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, either by technological or regular day-to-day inputs, go ahead and recite those facts back to yourself. Obviously, different techniques work better for different people, but this one is tried and true.”

Rose and Peridot spent the remainder of the appointment discussing overwhelming situations and coping mechanisms, and then just discussing Peridot’s classwork – this was a mostly one-sided discussion as most of the science went over Rose’s head, but she was content to listen.

After Peridot left, running to catch the bus to take her across the river, Rose sat back down at her desk and powered her computer back up. She started transferring her written notes into Peridot’s file when she heard a knock.

“Come on in!” She did not look up from the screen.

Pearl quietly slipped through the door, holding two steaming coffees. “I got your favorite.”

Rose’s head snapped up, eyes bright. “Oh, you are _so_ wonderful!” She swept across the room to take the latte from Pearl, holding the warm cup close and whispering “Oh, I love you”

Pearl closed her eyes for a moment, reveling in the moment. Rose looked back at her after taking a long sip.

“So, Rose. I was thinking, it’s been a while since the two of us did something together. I thought you might want to get dinner?”

“Oh, dear, I’d love to! You know, what? I think Greg is going to grill up some burgers tonight, you should come over! Steven would love to see you!”

Pearl groaned internally. She knew this was how this conversation would go. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been with her best friend Rose, not Dr. Quartz, just the two of them. But, as always, she couldn’t say no to her. And she did love Steven.

“I… I would love to.”

“Oh, _excellent!”_ Rose was beaming, and that almost made it worth it for Pearl. “How exciting, I’ll just call Greg and make sure we have some veggie burgers in the house. I’ve got some files to finish up, but if you don’t mind waiting we can go together in an hour?”

Pearl, defeated, smiled “Sure, Rose. I have a couple things I need to wrap up before we go as well.”

Rose twittered on for a bit about how lovely it would be to have her whole family at the table together, and the casual inclusion made Pearl’s stomach flutter. It wasn’t exactly the evening she had in mind, and it would probably boil down to her babysitting while Rose and Greg flirted like newlyweds, but it would probably still be the highlight of her week. Oh, she was so _sunk._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did a lot of research about how to write characters with autism respectfully but please call me out if anything is problematic. Also, I kind of ran away with Peridot’s gem power, but I figured metal and technology weren’t so far off.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey friends. Now that you've met all the players, it's going to start moving into the plot. Slowly. Very slowly. At a glacial pace. Sorry, I really like character development.

“Focus, you can do it.”

A bead of sweat rolled down Ruby’s furrowed brow onto her cheek. She paid it no mind, squinting intensely at the 10 candles that Rose had put out on the desk for practice.

_Whoosh_.

With one smooth motion, Ruby ignited all 10 candles. The flames leapt high above the confines of the candle holders, molding and morphing into one, large blaze.

Rose chewed on her pencil, watching Ruby concentrate. After a moment, the flames condensed into an imaginary glass box, forming a flaming cube suspended in midair.

“Great work, Ruby! Hold that shape.” Rose looked at the clock, watching the second hand tick. The colors danced red and orange, illuminating the warm reddish undertones in Ruby’s skin and eyes. Ruby was actively sweating now, from a combination of heat and exertion. The muscles in her neck and shoulders were taut, and her knees were shaking. “Breathe, Ruby.” 35 seconds… 40 seconds…

“ _Ah!”_ With a sputter, the conflagration died back down to 10 tiny flames dancing on the wicks of the candles. Ruby’s body sagged into Rose, who had reached out to catch her.

“43 seconds! That’s completely unprecedented! Why, you might be the strongest pyrokinetic I’ve ever seen.” Rose guided the exhausted girl to her seat before extinguishing the candles.

“What can I say, I had a good teacher.” She heaved between audible breaths.

Rose continued to prattle on for a bit about how important precision exercises are for pyrokinetic atypicals. Controlling the shape of a flame had always been the hardest skill for pyrokinetics to learn, but it was excellent in reducing property damage costs. Ruby focused on sitting upright and just let Rose’s words wash over her as she excitedly explained some of the research she’d read on the topic.

Having physically exhausted her patient, Rose poured them both a glass of water and sat down.

“Well, we have about 5 minutes remaining. 10 if we account for Amethyst being late.” As a combination of being a long-time patient and having the appointment right before Amethyst, Ruby’s sessions traditionally ran 5 minutes over.

Ruby laughed, “Which we always should. What do you want to talk about, doc?”

“Tell me about that boy you mentioned a few weeks ago. Has that gone anywhere?” Rose’s eyes sparkled a little as she asked.

The eyeroll heard round the world. “What, Jamie? Oh, please. I don’t know how he got my phone number but he texted me this huge elaborate love letter, begging to be mine. Waxing poetic about moon flowers or some bullshit. I literally just replied ‘no.’” Ruby shook her head, grimacing at the idea of going along with that Shakespearian nonsense.

Rose cocked her head, questioning. “You seemed to like him last time you mentioned him.”

“Yeah, platonically. He’s a cool guy and I like having him in my classes. And he’s a _huge_ drama queen so whenever something goes wrong, watching him overreact always makes me feel better.” Ruby chuckled, remembering when their law professor scheduled an exam for the day after Jamie’s play. She sobered up after a second. “I mean, I’m nice to him like I’m nice to all of my friends, but I really didn’t think I was leading him on at all. I’m just not interested like that. He’s… not my type.”

“What is your type, Ruby?”

Ruby looked dumbfounded. She ran through her mental list of guys that she’d dated. She never found any of them particularly attractive, physically, but she’d gotten along pretty well with all of them, and that was what mattered, right? “I, uh, I don’t know. I guess I have to be friends with the guy first? Before I can like him romantically? That’s a thing, right, like maybe I’m demi?”

Rose quirked one eyebrow, “I thought you said you _are_ friends with Jamie?”

_Well played._ Ruby had no retort ready. Theoretically, Jamie should have swept her off her feet with that stupid love letter, but instead it just made her a little queasy. Looking around for something to help her win this conversation, her eyes fell on the clock. “You know what, doc? I just remembered I have to talk to Pearl about some weird insurance thingy, I’ll see you next week!” She was not avoiding this question, per se, she just needed a minute to come up with a clever response. And by a minute, she meant a week.

Rose watched the girl squirm through that whole interaction and ultimately flee, smiling. She recognized that evolution of thought, and it was one that needed to proceed on its own.

Ruby burst into the waiting room. She moved to lean on the reception desk, attempting to regain a casual demeanor. Reaching into her wallet, she asked, “Hey, Pearl, can you update some stuff in the computer for me? My dad got a new health insurance policy at his new job. I have the card in here somewhere...”

“Of course, Ms. Crystal. Let me just pull up your account. C, c, c. Crystal, here we are. I’ll need the new policy number, please.”

After a few minutes of exchanging gibberish back and forth, Ruby thanked Pearl. Just as she turned around to leave, her tiny freight train of a best friend barreled into her.

“Ruby! Rue! My dude! Soooo glad I made it here before you left. Listen, I need a favor.”

Ruby crossed her arms over her chest “Ah, don’t even worry about crashing into me just a second ago, it’s ALL good.” Amethyst made a face that said _cut the shit_ , and Ruby let slip a crooked smile “what do you need?”

“I have my first wrestling match next week, but it starts right at 6 and I totally won’t make it unless you switch your appointment time with me.”

Ruby made a big show of slumping her shoulders and groaning and “that’s gonna be so _inconvenient,_ Ame,” waiting for Amethyst to get all huffy before laughing and punching her on the shoulder. “Yeah that’s no problem, you come an hour earlier and I’ll take your usual slot.”

Amethyst threw her arms around her friend “Dude, you’re the BEST!”

“I know, I know. Sis, why didn’t you just text me??”

Amethyst made a long, noncommittal sound before admitting “I dropped my phone in the toilet and I lost all my contacts.” Ruby bust out laughing, tears pricking at her eyes. Amethyst pretended to be mad at Ruby for laughing, but her joy was contagious – and it was pretty funny.

“Yeah, yeah I’m an idiot. You catch that, Pierogi?”

Pearl huffed at the nickname, but muttered about telling the doctor when she had a moment. Watching the two girls interact from behind the desk, they almost did look like sisters. They were about the same height, same build, although Amethyst was a little chubbier where Ruby was muscular. Amethyst was slightly darker than Ruby, like cool onyx compared with warm cocoa. Before she relaxed her hair and dyed it purple, it was about the same texture as Ruby’s natural curls. And, although they had met at this office less than a year ago, they behaved like lifelong friends. Pearl watched the girls swap phone numbers and exit the room through separate doors.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for discussion of disordered eating

“Sup, doctor Q.”

Rose looked up from her desk at Amethyst, who fell into the armchair like a sack of potatoes that someone had thrown down in a hurry. “Much of the same. My basil plant is doing very well.”

Already bored, she defaulted to grumbling “Shouldn’t all your plants always do well?”

Rose sat down across from the perpetually moody teenager “So, how was your week?”

“Fine”

Rose raised her eyebrows, waiting for more. She got nothing, so she prompted “What’s going on, Amethyst?”

A shrug. “Nothin”

Rose let the silence hang. Prying never got her anywhere with Amethyst; she had to wait for the girl to choose to open up. It rarely took more than a minute or so for the awkward silence to drive her over the edge.

“Okay, you wanna know? I have my weigh in tomorrow and I’m freaking out.” The doctor cocked her head to the side, confused. Amethyst groaned and explained further. “In wrestling, who you go up against depends on which weight class you’re in. So, like a week before the first match they weigh all the wrestlers, and you wanna be in the lightest weight class possible. Everybody goes bizerk trying to get as light as possible for their weigh-in. People have been starving themselves for days, doing really stupid shit like taking laxative pills. And, I dunno, I just know that tomorrow I’m gonna weigh what I always weigh and coach is gonna be mad at me.”

Rose nodded, understanding her concern. Amethyst was unused to dealing with problems in healthy ways, because she had grown accustomed to using her power as an out. Unfortunately, Amethyst was, in fact, bound by the law of conservation of mass; she could change her size and density, but never her weight. Rose wouldn’t put it past the girl to do something rash when faced with an issue she couldn’t shapeshift around. “Have _you_ been doing anything like that?”

Amethyst rolled her neck “Honestly, doc, I tried, but I can’t not eat. Everyone on the team started a fast together, and I think I went for like 2 hours before ordering chinese. And, no, I didn’t take any pills or nothin’. That’s just scary.”

“Well, I am glad to hear that. Those behaviors are unsafe, and anyone who gets mad at you for refusing to put your health on the line like that does not have your best interests at heart.”

Amethyst’s mouth twitched into a grimace. “Yeah, I dunno, that’s easy for you to say, doc, but I’m pretty sure everyone on the team is gonna be mad if I lose because I’m in a high weight class because I couldn’t cut any weight. I don’t really have anywhere to run, here _._ ”

Rose shook her head. “I don’t mean that you have to alienate yourself from your teammates or quit wrestling or anything. You just need to be firm in the knowledge that you are doing what’s right for you. Anyone who can’t respect that doesn’t deserve a say in how you make your choices.” Amethyst did not look comforted, so the doctor continued. “And yes, it will be hard to bear the brunt of your coach’s disapproval, but that will pass.” She smiled for a moment, before exclaiming, “And none of this will matter when you win your match! You are an excellent wrestler, Amethyst, no matter what you weigh.”

“Aw, stop, doc” she swatted in Rose’s direction, who laughed. After a moment of comfortable silence, the doctor steered the conversation elsewhere.

“Would you say that most of your friends are wrestling friends?”

“Pretty much all of ‘em, yeah. Well, except Ruby. She’s my best friend, and we don’t even go to the same school. But yeah, I don’t really know anyone from class or from my hall or any of that.”

Rose couldn’t help the warm smile that buoyed up. She _loved_ that her patients were interacting and forging friendships. She made a mental note to explore the idea of group sessions in the future.

“And how is the team, socially?”

“Aw, it’s awesome! Everyone’s always super energetic and fun to be around. We do so much cool stuff, like going out to eat after a match, or going to parties on the weekend! The team captain always hosts a wicked rager at the end of the season.”

Rose made a note. “If something is bothering you, do you feel like you can bring it to the team and they would be there for you?” She already knew the answer she would get.

“Ehhhh, I mean. Like. Maybe? I dunno, I’ve never tried. No one has. It would probably just harsh the vibe. You know, when we’re together at practice or at a match, it’s kind of time to leave all that at the door.”

“So, who _can_ you turn to when you need help?”

Amethyst looked spooked. “…You? That’s… why I’m here?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Besides me”

Looking down at her lap, she quietly answered “Just Ruby, I guess.”

“Good, that’s just fine” Amethyst looked up at the doctor, confused. “It’s perfectly fine to have friends that you just like to have fun with. You don’t need to feel pressured to confide in everyone you meet. It’s just good to know who, among your friends, will be there when you need them. But it might not be the person who hosts the best parties.” They shared a sly smile.

The conversation flowed back and forth for a time. School, then movies, then griping about public transit. Rose was halfway through a quick anecdote about Steven’s antics on the bus when the clock chimed the end of the session.

Amethyst stood, still laughing “I can’t believe he just let the cat run all around the bus! Geez, little Ste-man. You know, doc, if you ever need a babysitter-slash-bad influence, I’m all about corrupting the youth of today.”

Rose chuckled lightly “Oh, I think your bark is worse than your bite, Amethyst. You two would be absolutely thick as thieves. He’s young, yet, but I already see in him that… oh, how to say it… that chaotic good-naturedness, that is so evident in you.”

Amethyst shook her head and smiled “’Chaotic good’. I’ve been called worse.”

Rose laughed and shooed the girl into the waiting room, eyes on the clock.

Amethyst, by force of habit, went to bother Pearl. Leaning one arm on the reception counter, she assumed a hyper-casual air. “Hey, there, good lookin’. Come here often?”

Pearl paused her typing for a moment to glare at the girl, before completely returning her attention to the screen in front of her.

“C’mooooon, P. Give me _some_ thing.”

“Amethyst, I have work to do. Do you have a question for me, or just too much time on your hands?”

Amethyst’s eyebrows jumped mischievously. “Both, actually; Did it hurt?”

Pearl muttered something unfriendly under her breath as Amethyst rolled right on. “You know, when you fell and landed on the stick that’s currently up your ass?” Amethyst was barely containing her laughter.

“Out.” Their eyes met, warm gaze met with a hard glare, and the girl’s laughter died out.

“You know you love me.” Amethyst drawled before turning to go. On her way out, she called over her shoulder, “I’ll keep your dinner warm!”

Pearl shook her head. Juvenile, that’s what it was. No measure of professionalism, no boundaries. She just let whatever popped into her mind fall out of her mouth. _I’ll keep your dinner warm._ An intruding thought of sitting down to eat with the girl bubbled up _._ Pearl promptly locked that train of thought in a deep corner of her mind. She tried not to consider how many more times she could eat a soylent bar for dinner alone in her studio apartment before she lost her mind.

Pearl looked at the picture frame on the corner of her desk. It was a picture of her and Rose, from when they were roommates in college. Before Steven and Greg, before the practice. They were good times.

She took a moment to clear her mind. _These are good times, too._ She said it often enough that she usually believed it.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks everyone who reads, leaves kudos, and comments! Every comment makes me so happy I could just scream <3  
> It's hard to put a cw on this chapter but it might be a bit rough for anyone who's been hospitalized for mental illness.

Rose pulled up the next file on her computer. Gem, S. An interesting case, for certain. Her main goal was to determine whether the girl was actually psychic or if she was, in fact, experiencing hallucinations. With no known trigger for the episodes, she turned to the literature. Future vision was not unheard of in the atypical community – in fact, Rose had met multiple psychics at her previous position. She pulled up a couple articles and observational studies on psychic episodes.

_Intense emotional response. Defense mechanism. Panic attack. Certain category of stimuli._

Rose had hoped to avoid this. If Sapphire was, in fact, atypical, she would most likely be induced by emotional strain. The literature pointed towards getting the patient on the defensive, making them angry and scared.

 _Well, good thing she’s already so expressive,_ Rose drawled silently. If Sapphire could calmly discuss her father’s death with complete emotional detachment, there might be nothing that would ruffle her feathers.

Pearl’s voice through the intercom derailed her train of thought: “Sapphire is here, doctor.”

“Thank you, dear, I’m ready for her.”

The unassuming girl slipped in and sat. “Hello, Dr. Quartz”

“Hello, how are you today?”

“Well, thanks, and you?”

“I’m just fine.” Rose smiled and moved to sit in the unoccupied armchair. “So, last week I asked you to try to identify a common stimulus that seems to cue your… episodes. A trigger, of sorts. Any luck?”

Shaking her head, Sapphire answered. “No, it really seems like they come randomly. All times of the day, all sorts of places, no code word or anything weird.” She made an apologetic face at the doctor.

Rose sent up a silent apology before beginning. She put on her best Therapist Face and _tsked._ “Interesting. Well, that certainly does support the case for hallucination. I recall you saying that sometimes the episodes are not from your perspective? Would you say that your thoughts don’t feel like your own?”

Sapphire was obviously nervous, eyes wide and brow furrowed. “Yes? I guess… sometimes.  It’s, it’s hard to explain.”

Rose did her best to look judgmental and wrote a note on her pad: _Oh Sapphire I’m so sorry._ “And I do remember you saying that you grew up mostly in isolation? Few friends, very little parental interaction after your father’s passing. Is that correct?”

A hesitant nod.

“Hm.” Rose took a moment to scratch another note onto the paper in front of her: _Please realize I’m still on your side after this._ “Well, I think I have everything I need. I’m going to formally diagnose you with schizoaffective disorder, and I would recommend we begin a regimen of medication as soon as possible. I’ll write you up a script. How much do you weigh, dear?”

Sapphire blanched. “M- medication?? I thought, I don’t know, I thought you believed me. Wait, are you even a psychiatrist?”

“What, you think I believed that you’re psychic? That you have visions of the future? Oh, dear, you must be deeper in your delusions than I expected. Maybe we should consider hospitalization as an option, at least until we get you on a medicine that works to eliminate your… symptoms.”

Sapphire’s fingers were shaking. “Hospitalization?”

“Oh, yes. No longer than a few weeks. A month, at the absolute most.”

“Doctor, I’m not going to do that!” At this point, Sapphire’s fear had started to boil over into something more feral.

 _Yes,_ Rose thought, _this is what will do it._ Externally, she shrugged and continued scribbling apologies on her pad. “Well, I’m sorry to say it, dear, but if I think you’re a danger to yourself or others, I don’t really need your consent. I’m the medical professional.”

Sapphire gripped the arms of her chair with white-knuckle force. “I. Am. Not. Going. You can’t force me to go anywhere, you can’t force me to take any crazy medications. I won’t!”

Rose’s eyes widened minutely as she watched small sheets of ice extend from Sapphire’s tense fingers, coating the chair legs and expanding across the carpet. After a moment of tense silence, the girl seemed to snap back to herself, suddenly looking down at her armchair-turned-ice throne with wide eyes – well, eye. She looked up at Rose, confused and fearful. Rose was beaming.

“Dr. Quartz, I’m. I’m so sorry, I don’t know… I don’t understand…”

“Well, this is certainly an exciting development! I’m so sorry about all that nastiness earlier. I thought that inducing a stress state might trigger a vision for you. I felt horrible the whole time, and I hope you know that I would never force medication or hospitalization on someone against their will.” Rose held up her pad full of apologies for the girl to see.

Sapphire shook her head quickly, trying to reboot her brain that had seemingly crashed. “You were… pretending? To diagnose me with schizo-whatever the hell you said? All that was fake?”

Rose nodded, apologetic, “Yes, and I’m very sorry that I scared you, but in order to determine whether your visions are real or not, I had to observe one. Obviously, this was not the intended effect, but what a pleasant surprise! Sapphire, dear, I think you may be a cryokinetic. Have you ever exhibited this ability before?”

Sapphire’s eye bulged. Dr. Quartz was treating this like a faintly interesting piece of good news, as if Sapphire had adopted a puppy instead of popsicle-ing a piece of furniture.

“Wha- no! Of course not! That’s not even possible!”

“And yet, we both just watched it happen.” Rose could hear the cogs turning in Sapphire’s mind, unable to process what was happening. “Sapphire, I’m going to tell you something I usually don’t tell my patients this soon. There is a subpopulation of humans that have certain abilities. We are called Atypicals. When you came to me describing your visions, I did consider that you may have the power of foresight, but I didn’t want to plant that seed of validation in your mind if it did turn out to be based in hallucination. Now I see that you have the power of cryokinesis, and bearing that in mind, I am almost certain that your visions are indeed psychic.”

“……”

“You, dear, are an Atypical.”

“……”

“You’re having trouble coming to terms with this. Completely understandable. But, as you said yourself, you have visions of the future. Is it so unconceivable you may be able to manipulate frozen water? It’s a very standard elemental power, although I must say I have never read a case of an atypical with more than one power. In that, you are quite unique.”

Sapphire, still gaping, held up one hand “Wait. You said you don’t tell your patients in their first few visits. Does that mean all of the people you see here are… superheroes? Basically?”

Rose laughed “I suppose that is one way to say it. I do have clients that just come here for counseling, having no powers and no knowledge of the existence of atypicals. Once I determine for certain that they don’t have atypical abilities, I refer them to another doctor, someone more suited to their particular needs. So if you see someone week after week in the waiting room, the chances are good.”

Sapphire seemed to be still mentally stumbling over the part where ice exuded from her fingertips, looking down at her hands and flexing her fingers.

Rose watched for a moment before offering “Would you like to try again?”

Sapphire’s gaze whipped up. Dr. Quartz had a conspiratorial glint in her eye, like she already knew the answer. Sapphire lifted both her hands, staring at her fingertips. They felt cold, definitely, but despite the girl’s enthusiasm, she was unable to summon another ice formation. She tried and tried, while Rose reminded her not to get discouraged and that these things take time. Soon, the hour was over.

“Now, Sapphire, before you go, I’d like to ask you a favor.”

Sapphire quirked an eyebrow, waiting for the question.

“In my own experience, I have found that people tend to react… unpredictably, when an atypical reveals themself. Now, of course, it is up to you who you allow to see this side of you, but I would advise you strongly to only tell people you trust very much about your powers. Do not let yourself be seen practicing in public or around strangers. And, while you may decide who knows about your power, I would ask that you don’t reveal any other atypicals you may meet here, myself included. This practice-”

Waving away the doctor’s concern, Sapphire cut her off “Dr. Quartz, I’ve seen enough superhero movies to understand the concept of the mask. You don’t have to worry about me telling everyone about you, or me, or people like us in general.”

Rose sighed softly “I know, dear. I wasn’t actually worried, I just have to give the spiel to everyone after they become self-aware. I had a public incident with a super-strength atypical a few years back. Hammers and anvils everywhere…” Rose looked distant for a moment, before coming back to herself, “But again, I knew that I could trust you. Thank you.”

Sapphire was surprisingly affected by Dr. Quartz choosing to trust her. Even after that terrifying moment where Sapphire thought that she was going to be put away, the doctor had her best interests at heart the whole time.  After two short sessions, she was already looking up to the woman, and the small praise permeated through her like honey in her veins. She didn’t consider Dr. Quartz a maternal figure, but she knew that in the future, she very well might.

On her way out of the office and onto the street, Pearl called out to her “Should I book you in for the same time next week, Ms. Gem?”

Sapphire had to stop herself from beaming. “You know what Pearl, why don’t you just set me up with a regular appointment for this time every week.”

“Consider it done.” Pearl entered Sapphire’s recurring appointment into the scheduler. _It’s a bit early for Rose to have dropped the Atypical bomb._ Pearl shrugged it off. Stranger things had certainly happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The super-strong atypical of yesteryear is based on Bismuth, but that's all we'll see of her in this story, sorry!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sorry this chapter is coming a few days late - I got snowed in somewhere I didn't have my computer. To make it up to you all, I'll post an extra chapter later this week.
> 
> Your comments always make me so excited to update as soon as I can <3
> 
> cw for toxic family dynamic

Rose was alone in her office on a rainy fall day. She had an hour-long break between appointments, and she used this time to review files and continue her independent research. As her career went on, she noticed that more and more of the atypical studies she read were emblazoned with a logo she recognized and did not trust. Three diamonds, situated into the shape of a larger diamond. Her face crinkled into the unfamiliar shape of a grimace as she scrolled past a study on the augmentative effects of various strenuous conditions on the powers of individual atypicals. _Strenuous._ She mentally scoffed at the word. Nothing about the experiments she’d seen had been any less than torturous. Rose thought of all those atypicals being held against their will, and her heart ached. But she knew that exposing the company would only expose the existence of atypicals, and that was a whole other can of worms. She could never do it alone…

Pearl’s voice pierced through, tinny through the intercom. “Ms. Lazuli is here early for her… casual conversation.”

Rose shook the memory out of her head. “Go ahead and send her in, dear.”

She collected her notepad and her gnawed-on pencil, and moved to sit in one of the armchairs. After a moment, the door opened to reveal a smiling Lapis, which was certainly unusual.

“Hi, doctor!”

Rose did an excellent job of masking her surprise to see the girl in such a bright mood. “Hello, Lapis. Good to see you.”

Lapis sat, and lifted two hands up, facing each other. “Look what I’ve been practicing!” Rose nodded, and the girl visibly focused on her palms. After a seconds concentration, water droplets starting leaping from her fingertips, only to be reabsorbed by the palm of her opposite hand, making a sort of fountain. She giggled, and allowed the water to stop, looking up at Rose hopefully. She looked so young when she was smiling.

“That’s excellent, Lapis! A wonderful show of control. Tell me, is it difficult to coordinate the production and absorption of water at the same time?”

Lapis nodded, obviously feeling proud, “Yes, a little bit, but like I said I’ve been practicing!”

Rose nodded. “I’m very impressed, dear. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to discuss the session you had with your parents this past week.”

Lapis’ expression visibly darkened. Rose hated to see her clients upset, but she knew that this was a conversation that needed to happen.

After a heavy sigh, Lapis began. “Well, we went to see that one doctor you mentioned, Dr. Maheswaran, and she was nice enough, but… I don’t know. She seemed to be on their side the whole time. I felt like she was looking at it like ‘problem child destroys household’ as opposed to ‘depressed lesbian survives oppressive home life’.” Rose jotted down some notes, mentally weighing this information.

“It is possible that the doctor is playing against them. She may recognize that immediately telling your parents they are being emotionally abusive will do more harm than good; they may refuse to go back to her office and you may never get the help you need. That’s not to say that your feeling of being ganged up on was invalid, you were there and you know better than I do.”

Lapis nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense, but still. I dunno. So anyway, we spend a long time introducing ourselves. Mom and dad express their frustration with having a lazy, outright disobedient daughter who will do anything to make them unhappy. I express that my parents don’t acknowledge that I have depression, go out of their way to ignore my sexuality, and lay down restrictive rules about who I’m allowed to have contact with, when I’m allowed to leave the house, and how I spend my time while I’m at home.” She had become visibly heated by this point. “So she – the doctor, I mean – she let us have it out against each other for almost the whole hour, and the only thing she really said was that we had a ‘very toxic dynamic’ and we needed more sessions. Eat up, pay up, get out.”

“Lapis, dear, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I didn’t gain this much weight by eating one ice cream sundae. Progress takes time.” Rose smiled sympathetically. “I understand that you’re in a very bad place with your parents, but one session was never going to fix anything. I definitely recommend you continue your sessions with Dr. Maheswaran. Did your parents seem amicable to the idea of going back?”

Lapis shrugged. “We haven’t been talking much since the appointment, but I’m pretty sure Dad moved around some of his meetings so that he has that night off. I don’t see why they wouldn’t want to go back—she basically told them they’re right.”

Rose wrote another note before looking back at Lapis. “Well, I’d be interested to see what the doctor will have to say next week. Until then, how is school going?”

Lapis slumped back further into her chair, muttering, “It sure is going, whether I like it or not.”

Rose raised both eyebrows, waiting for Lapis to finish this miniature tantrum. While she was an extraordinary girl in a lot of ways, sometimes she was exactly like every other 17-year-old.

With a groan, Lapis continued. “I don’t know, doctor, I just want to graduate already. I hate math, the only reason I’m taking it is for SAT prep, which bites, by the way. And my other classes are all bullshit, like US history, or British literature. _Blech_.”

“Well, I know you’ve expressed an interest in college. What do you think you would study there? What subject interests you most?”

Lapis looked down at her cupped hands, letting a pool of water form between them. “I really like art… I know that art majors don’t really ever get jobs, but I think that’s what I want to do. Like, something I could do that would make it worth it to be poor and unemployed.”

Rose smiled. “Well, I can definitely say that art would be good for you. Art is a therapy on its own. A way of unleashing feelings you can’t quite verbalize. And I want you to know that despite your parents’ impending disapproval of this choice, there will always be people in your life that are rooting for you, Lapis. No matter what.”

Lapis blushed before perking up, “Oh! I forgot to mention, I met someone!”

Rose waggled her eyebrows “Ooh, _someone_ someone?”

Lapis smirked coyly “Yes, someone-someone. She was at my school picking up her younger sister, and she saw me walking so she offered me a ride. We got to talking, so she dropped off her sister at home – some freshman, I didn’t recognize her – and we drove around the park a couple times. She gave me her phone number before she dropped me off at my corner. I want to text her, but I don’t know. I’m scared my parents are gonna look through my phone and see her. Like I said, they’re pretty strict about letting me text girls while I’m in my ‘lesbian phase.’ Not that they let me text boys, because that’s improper anyways. I’m basically not allowed to have friends.” Lapis finished her thought, using the tone of someone delivering the punch line of a joke.

Rose thought for a moment. “I know of some apps that will encrypt messages for you, or delete them after they’ve been read? That might work in a situation like this.”

Lapis nodded, excited. “Yeah, I can add her on snapchat and we can talk that way! Wow, I can’t believe I’ve never thought of that before… I guess I’ve never really had someone to try to text.” She realized too late how pathetic that sounded.

Then, the clock chimed the end of another hour.

“Well, dear, I’ll have to start getting ready for my next appointment. Keep your chin up about the family counselor, okay? Progress is always slow, but it’s always worth it.”

Lapis nodded, bidding the doctor a “See you next week” before leaving.

Outside Dr. Quartz’ building, Lapis ran headfirst into something small and greenish.

“Hey! Ugh- what- eh- oh! Lazuli!” Make that some _one_ small and greenish.

“Peridot, hi.” Lapis regarded the girl, who looked completely disheveled at having collided with her. “How are you?”

“I’m cold. A little hungry. Just coming out of your session, I see? How are you?”

“… Actually, not bad. I’m pretty tired though. I’ve kinda got a lot going on.” Lapis almost surprised herself by wanting to answer the question honestly. Something about Peridot always felt so genuine, like there were no layers of meaning and social expectations to wade through. When Peridot asked her how she was, she felt like she could say more than just “fine” without making the girl regret asking. Lapis shook herself – she barely knew the girl.

“Well, I know we haven’t known each other very long, but if past performance is any indicator, you’ll be just fine!”

“… Right. Thanks.” Lapis, bewildered, turned to walk home the long way.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, an extra chapter this week.

Peridot watched Lapis amble away from the doctor’s building and turn a corner onto the main road. Maybe she could be one of the people Dr. Quartz mentioned last week. Someone who didn’t categorize her as “that autistic kid” or “that muslim girl” or “that computer nerd”. Peridot decided with a firm nod that the possibility was worth exploring. She would start cultivating a friendship with Lapis Lazuli. She turned to enter Dr. Quartz’ building when she heard a line of binary that caught her ear. It was… coming from Dr. Quartz’ computer. She recognized the IP easily, like recognizing someone by their voice over the phone. Something like… hmm… Lapis had a new possible romantic interest! Peridot’s eyes grew wide, embarrassed but very curious. Peridot knew better than to dig around in the doctor’s computer, but she couldn’t help hearing the words pushing into her mind right now – the doctor must be currently typing this up. She thought for a moment, and decided to hang outside the doorway for another minute. Now that she had decided to try to befriend the skinny high schooler, she might do well to learn a little bit about her.

_Definitely need to monitor closely. She could benefit from a supportive relationship, or even from a close friend and confidant, but she is also in a very susceptible place. With virtually no self-esteem and no external support system, she’s in prime condition to be taken advantage of… Hydrokinesis is coming along well. Abilities have already surpassed patient 003T1a. Further testing for her could include temperature differentials, phases of water, mass, and –_

Here the computer’s monologue cut off from Peridot’s mind. The doctor must have been interrupted. _I didn’t know Lazuli was hydrokinetic._ She was, in a word, impressed. She waited a moment to see if the narrative continued. After a few seconds of silence from the computer, Peridot shrugged and entered the building. She breezed past Pearl, who hurriedly turned off her own computer, into the doctor’s room.

”Hello, doctor!” Peridot sat confidently in the armchair that all but swallowed her.

“Good evening, dear. How are you?” Rose poured a glass of water for each of them before sitting.

“Excellent! I changed my schedule around and I’m taking a bunch of engineering and computer science classes. I think this will be a better program for me. I especially like my algorithms class! It’s not usually for freshmen, but the department head agreed that I’m more than qualified.” Peridot, looking very smug, told the doctor all about her classwork. Again, most of the technicalities went over Rose’s head, but she was happy to listen. It was rare that the girl felt at home anywhere, so Rose was glad to hear her gush about her schoolwork like she was truly in her element. After about 20 minutes of going back and forth about schoolwork, the conversation naturally died down.

“Well, if there’s nothing else on your mind this week, I’d like to devote some time to honing your ability.”

Peridot nodded, excited.

Rose walked over to her desk, pulling out an old, battered smartphone from one of the drawers. “This is my old phone. I’ve wiped it back to factory settings, so there should be nothing on here. A totally blank slate. I’ll power it up, you tell me what you hear.”

Peridot let her eyes fall closed, listening to the technological hum of the city. After a moment, she heard a new input, like a new instrument joining in the orchestra. “It’s… not quiet, because it’s so close to me, but it’s not loud, because it doesn’t have anything to say.”

“Very interesting. Would you say it’s like white noise?”

“Hm, I’m not sure I know what you mean by that. It’s like when the air conditioner comes on in the summer, you hear it start and it seems loud but then it just becomes something you can ignore, in the background.”

Rose chuckled and verified that that’s what “white noise” meant. Peridot grumbled about the stupid nuances of the English language while Rose nodded sympathetically.

“Now, Peridot, I’d like to test your range.” Rose scribbled down a number and tore off the page from her notepad. “I’ll begin typing, which I know you’ll be able to hear, and then I’ll walk away. Go ahead and call this number when you can’t hear me anymore, and I’ll come back.”

Peridot took the page from Dr. Quartz silently.

Rose stepped outside and closed the door behind her.

_Hello, Peridot._ The words were already muffled, coming from the other side of the heavy wooden door. _I’m going to step outside the waiting room onto the street. Oh, it’s gotten colder. Okay, I’m walking down the street. I want you to focus on this phone in particular. Try to keep listening to me as long as you can. I’ll just keep typing until you call me and say that you’ve lost track of this phone. Take stock of how you’re feeling right now. Is this strenuous to you? Are you experiencing any feeling of stretching or discomfort? I’ll ask you all of these questions when I get back… Okay I’m about… cross… train tracks have any effect…._

Peridot strained, but she lost track of Dr. Quartz’ phone in the 1s and 0s of the city streets. With a heavy exhale, she slumped forward in her chair. She pulled out her phone, dialing the number Dr. Quartz had given her.

“This is outstanding, Peridot! I’m just across the street from the green line! That’s almost the whole block! How are you feeling?”

Peridot’s voice shook when she replied, “That was… very tiring, doctor.”

“I’m sure! Okay, drink some water, I’ll be back to the office shortly!”

She ended the call. Looking around, Peridot realized she’d never been in this office without the doctor present. Part of her felt like an intruder. Part of her felt… opportunistic. She snuck over to the doctor’s desk, eager to have the opportunity to see into her own file. The computer was off, but there were some pages scattered across the desk. It looked like a jumble of experimental reports. She noticed that they all had the same logo, and every paper cited the same organization as a sponsor.

_The Diamond Atypical Authority?_

Before she could explore further, she heard the gentle buzz of a wiped smartphone entering the waiting room outside. She scurried back to her armchair and grabbed up the glass of water, just to have something to hide behind.

Just in time, too, because the door swung open and Rose bustled in, face flushed from the cold. “Great work, Peridot! How are you feeling?”

Her hands were shaking, partially from the exercise, partially from almost getting caught snooping. “A bit better, but still tired. It became very difficult to focus on you when there are so many other inputs all around”

Rose, now seated, nodded as she made notes on her pad. “How did it sound at the end? Was I gradually getting quieter, or are there levels of hearing?”

Peridot scrunched up her nose. The doctor often asked questions that didn’t always have communicable answers – Peridot knew how it had sounded to lose the doctor’s phone, but there weren’t exactly words for it. “You were getting quieter, but at the end I was only getting bits and pieces. It was choppy.”

“Regardless, the distance was impressive!”

“Yes, it was, wasn’t it?”

They went back and forth, Rose trying her best to understand the experience and document Peridot’s ability. Peridot’s mind was elsewhere, though, buzzing. If Dr. Quartz is reading those articles at work, it’s probably got to do with atypical psychology. All of those articles were published by some group called the Diamond Atypical Authority. _What if there’s a whole scientific research group about people like me!_ Peridot was beyond curious, and as soon as the session ended, she whipped out her phone, googling and walking at the same time. _I wonder if other people have the same power as me. I wonder what happens if two atypicals with the same power work together. I wonder-_

Nothing. Google didn’t know anything about the Diamond Atypical Authority. All she got was a bunch of jewelry websites. Even when she listened to the code running through her phone, she didn’t notice any surface-level encryption that would keep it from being searched. It seemed to just not exist at all. She stopped walking, staring at her phone. She knew she had read those reports right, and there were so many of them, they must have come from somewhere.

She made a mental note to do some more snooping next week.


	11. Chapter 11

Rose was having a very hard time keeping Amethyst’s attention. The wrestler was so hyped up for her big match that she didn’t want to talk about any of the points Rose had wanted to hit today. She also didn’t want to work on her ability because she didn’t want to tire herself out.

“… and the other girls are all like pretty evenly matched against their opponents but the girl in my weight class is like _ripped_ and I’m, like, I’m not bad but this girl looks _really_ strong and the way the points play out, my match is close to the end so it’s gonna matter more, and”

“Amethyst, I know today’s meet is the first one of the season and I know you feel like there’s a lot on the line for you, being in one of the higher weight classes. Maybe it’ll be helpful to shake out some of your nerves.”

Amethyst sighed, stopped pacing for a moment, and stretched her arms and legs out like noodles. She wiggled them around, looking very cartoonish. Her neck grew as long as a giraffe and she swung her head around slowly. Bringing all of her limbs back into proportion, she sighed “That does feel good.”

“Good, now why don’t you come sit down? You’re wearing through the carpet, pacing like that.”

Amethyst smiled sheepishly and climbed back into the armchair. “I just… Man, I’m excited to be wrestling again, but I already want it to be over. I wanna know who’s going to win so I can focus on the fight, just letting go and having fun.

Rose nodded “Well, I know how much you love your team, but maybe this is too high-stakes? Maybe you’d enjoy club wrestling more? Where it’s more about the fight than the win.”

The girl scoffed “Club wrestling is a joke. And anyway, I couldn't keep my scholarship if I stepped down to the club level. Nah, the pressure is a lot but I can deal with it. It’s worth it, to be on a team with people that are really dedicated. And, club wrestling is co-ed. I can’t hit a guy! That’s just not right!”

Rose rolled her eyes, smiling. Stubborn to the last. “If you can hit a girl, you can hit a boy, too. They’re not going to break. Obviously, only in the context of wrestling. Please don’t go around saying your therapist told you to hit people.”

Amethyst barked out a laugh. “Your secret’s safe with me, doc.”

As the clock chimed the end of the hour, Amethyst’s smile froze, suddenly looking pained.

Rose, seeing this, stood and put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, “Remember what we talked about last time. Win, lose, or draw, it’s about the fight. Your real friends will stick by you no matter what. You are a great wrestler, and I’m sure you’ll do amazing!” Rose patted her shoulder again.

“Thanks, doc.” Looking determined, she sprung up out of the chair and hurried out of the room. She breezed through the waiting room, giving Ruby a high-five on her way out the door.

“You got this, Ame!” Ruby called after her, just before the front door swung closed.

 

* * *

 

Ruby was tired. Her appointment being later than usual meant that she had spent an extra hour at work, trying to rack up some overtime. Rose could tell just watching her walk in and sit down, today was not a good day to push the limits of her ability.

Rose sat down and let herself fall into the routine of Ruby. They had been working together for so long that the conversation was effortless. They talked about school, about feminism, about work, whatever was on Ruby’s mind, and soon she seemed to be in better spirits.

“Ruby, I have a question for you, and I want you to be completely honest with me.”

The girl cocked her head, listening.

“I have been toying with the idea of group sessions. I’ve been doing some reading about the interactions between different kinds of abilities and I’m interested in exploring the dynamics between some of the patients here. How would you feel about that?”

Ruby thought for a moment, “I mean, it’d be cool to meet some other atypicals, for sure, and having superpower show-and-tell sounds like a blast, but I don’t know about the whole therapy thing.”

Rose raised her eyebrows, prompting more explanation.

“You know, like everyone sits and talks about their ~experiences~ and why they’re in therapy and stuff, I don’t know, doc. I’m not even all the way comfortable admitting some stuff to myself, let alone a room full of strangers, atypical or not.”

Rose made a note. “Okay, I see your point. Consider it as a practice session, then. We’d develop abilities and learn more about the relationship between certain powers, but all of the emotional and mental labor, we leave for the individual sessions. Would you be comfortable performing your ability and seeing the abilities of others in a controlled setting?”

Ruby nodded, looking enthusiastic, “Yeah, that’d be rad! Wait, Ame would be there, right? Oh, that’d be so cool! She does little stuff for me, like changing her hair or growing a pig nose. I’ve never seen her go all-out, though. Oh, and she’s never seen _mine._ Like, she’s seen me steam up about stuff if I’m mad, but – oh man this is gonna be awesome, doc.”

Rose laughed, trying to reel the girl back in. “Okay, okay, sounds like a positive report. I’ll talk to my other regulars and try to set up a time that works for everyone who’s willing.”

Ruby nodded, excited at the prospect of showing off to a bunch of new people, and having another excuse to hang with Amethyst. The clock chimed the end of the hour.

“Unfortunately, today, I’ll have to kick you out on time.” Rose stood with a smile. Ruby chuckled and stood.

Walking into the waiting room, Ruby immediately noticed the seated figure. She was about the same height as Ruby, but where Ruby was stocky, the stranger was very skinny.  Probably around the same age, too. She had one ice blue eye and one eye that was clouded and grey. If Ruby had to bet, she would guess that the girl could only see out of her left eye. Her long hair was dyed to match her eyes. _Wow._ Ruby regarded her with a kind of buzzing feeling in her abdomen. She chalked it up to curiosity; as a long-time patient of Dr. Quartz, Ruby had gotten to know most of the regulars.

“Oh hey, I haven’t seen you around here before, my name’s Ruby.”

The blue-haired girl seemed not to notice the introduction. In reality, Sapphire had been frozen, mortified, since Ruby stepped out of the appointment room. Under her cool façade, her mind was spinning. Sapphire would recognize that face anywhere. In fact, she felt the undercurrent of something not entirely unlike déjà vu which told her that she had foreseen this very moment. This was the girl she had seen in that vision.

Yes, _that_ vision.

She turned to look at the girl, who was slowly approaching, ready to repeat herself if necessary. She couldn’t remember much about the vision besides the story she told Dr. Quartz, but that face… Oh, god she was blushing so hard and just _staring_ at the poor girl. _Ruby._ Now she could put a name to a face. She was just as beautiful in real life. Her eyes were warm and brown, and her natural curls bounced gently as she walked, even behind the restraint of a red headband. Her skin was only a few tones darker than the wood of the waiting room furniture, and Sapphire wanted to reach out and touch her skin to see if it was as smooth as she had dreamed. She was wearing a red tank top that featured strong, broad shoulders that looked like they could carry the world. Strong, amazing, warm, beautiful. Of course, Sapphire couldn’t say any of those things.

She couldn’t seem to say anything at all.

“Uh, I’m Ruby, what’s your name?” Ruby prodded, not sure if the newcomer even heard her the first time.

“…I … uh .. um..”

Thankfully, Pearl saved the day. “Sapphire?”

The girl bolted up out of her seat and crossed to the reception desk. “You can go right in, dear, Dr. Quartz is ready for you.”

Before heading in to the appointment room, Sapphire smiled timidly at Ruby’s shoulder, avoiding eye contact and blushing furiously. Ruby watched her slip through the door without a word, shared a confused shrug with Pearl, and left for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally met! 11 chapters in! Wow, forgive me, the pace picks up soon, I promise.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends I am having a Bad Time (TM) and finals are coming up for me so I might not be able to post next week but this chapter is a bit longer than usual and I'll post two when I come back. If you have some positive energy / good vibes to spare I could use it <3

“So, Dr. Quartz, you said everyone here is an atypical?”

It seemed that after a week, Sapphire had had time to process the reality of the situation, and she was _interested._

“Mostly, yes. I can’t divulge anyone’s specific inclinations, due to doctor-patient confidentiality protections, but-“

“Is the receptionist an atypical?”

“Pearl? Oh, dear, no. But she is aware of… the kind of work I do here. I would say her superpower is organization and determination, but that would take away from the fact that she cultivated those skills diligently. No, to call her an atypical would almost be a demotion for the likes of Pearl.” Rose smiled warmly. She had quite the soft spot for the woman, as she would for a younger sister.

“Are _you_ atypical?” Sapphire pressed on, pushing past her usual boundaries of disinterested politeness, fueled by curiosity.

Rose gestured towards the flower boxes near the window. Sapphire turned to see a rosebud forming, blooming, and dropping petals, as if she was watching a time-lapse video. She gaped at the pile of petals, and then back at Rose.

“I have control over organic life. Obviously, I have some moral qualms about exercising my power over sentient animals, but I don’t think the plants mind much.” She smiled at the rose petals on the ground and they floated up off the floor and back into the window box.

“Do you mean to tell me that you could control my body, if you wanted to?”

At this question, Rose looked uncomfortable, but Sapphire was ravenous for more answers, more information.

“In theory, yes. I would never allow myself to override anyone’s autonomy in that way, let alone-“

“Show me.”

“Sapphire, that is very inappropriate. You have to understand that I-“

“Please, Dr. Quartz. Just something small. Lift my finger, wiggle my nose. I’m giving you my consent!” Sapphire spoke this very matter-of-factly, but Rose could hear the intensity in her voice.

Rose considered the girl for a moment, and thought of something she could do that had little to no ramifications. In fact, something she’d been wanting to do since she laid eyes on the girl.

Sapphire sat waiting, and suddenly felt her bangs tickling at her brow. For a split second she mentally remarked at how quickly they seemed to have grown out, before she realized that they were growing impossibly fast _– visibly_ growing, lengthening down her forehead and almost covering her eyes. She yelped with surprise, and Rose began to laugh as the girl ran her fingers through her bangs, beaming. Sapphire was positively frenzied with excitement. She had superpowers. Her _therapist_ had superpowers. Really cool superpowers! If she talked to that cute girl from the waiting room – Ruby, her name was -- she could be _friends_ with someone with superpowers. _More than friends, if I have anything to do with it._  There were people out there like her, and her bangs were long, and there was a pile of flower petals in the flowerbox by the window, and she felt like she could float.

“Sapphire!” Rose shouted from her seat. The young woman looked down at Dr. Quartz, and suddenly realized that she had to look _down_ at Dr. Quartz. Looking around, Sapphire realized that she was sitting on a cloud that was slowly rising up off the seat and towards the ceiling.

“I didn’t know I could do this!”

“Well, that seems to be a running trend with you, doesn’t it?” Rose said wryly. She stood and held her arms open under Sapphire’s cloud. “See if you can come down from there. I’m right here if you fall, nothing to worry about.” Sapphire nodded and scrunched her eyes closed, trying to will herself back into her seat. _How would I even do that? I don’t even understand how I got up here, how could she expect me to get myself down??_ After hanging in the air for a little less than a minute, she started to panic. _Oh my god what if I never come down from this stupid cloud._

“Sapphire, there is no need to panic. Clouds are just tightly-knit networks of ice crystals; this is familiar territory. Last week, you summoned ice that completely coated the chair while feeling angry. Today, you were feeling giddy when this cloud formed beneath you. If you can return to a neutral emotional state, you should be able to regain control.”

Sapphire nodded, and focused on her breathing. _There’s nothing to be excited about. There’s nothing to be angry about. There’s no reason to have any feelings one way or the other._ After a moment, the cloud dissipated. Sapphire felt her stomach lurch as she started to fall, but the drop was short and she landed in Dr. Quartz’ large, safe arms.

Rose put her down gently. “Well, you’re just full of surprises dear. I think working on mastering your ability – sorry, abilities – needs to be a bit higher on our list of priorities.”

Sapphire mumbled her thanks, and nodded. Dr. Quartz asked her to form icicles from her fingers, which took a great deal of concentration. Sapphire figured out that she could tap into emotionally charged memories to summon her power – _it’s like casting a patronus._ Next, Dr. Quartz asked her to create a cloud between them. This was much more difficult for Sapphire, and by the end of the session she had barely managed to organize a wisp. On multiple occasions, she accidentally threw a snowball at the doctor, although after the first one Rose was quick to dodge.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Quartz, I don’t think I can do any more.”

Rose nodded. “Well, I’m still very impressed with the progress we’ve made today! How are you feeling right now Sapphire?”

“Tired. But, a very specific kind of tired. Like how, after handwriting a really long essay, your wrist starts to ache?”

“Interesting. Thank you, Sapphire. In addition to providing counseling and helping younger atypicals master their powers, I’m also conducting research into the physicality of our powers. The more I learn about all of my current patients, the more well-prepared I am to help future clients. I hope you’re alright with us using some of our time together to explore your abilities.”

“Of course. I look forward to having a better handle on these things.”

“Excellent! I want you to make time for some cryokinesis practice. If you find yourself alone, somewhere private, practice the things we did today. Little icicles, little clouds. We’ll work our way up.”

Sapphire smiled and nodded. Rose started to initiate a conversation, but after a couple words, Sapphire lost track of the present.

Suddenly she was somewhere else. Actually, she was still in Dr. Quartz’ office, but she was some _when_ else. The room was dark, lit only by the fluorescent ceiling lights: no natural light from the windows. The flower box was empty, except for a few dead rose stems. All thorn, no flower. She was standing in front of the doctor’s desk, across from a woman who looked mostly like Dr. Quartz. This woman was not the radiant beacon of hope that Sapphire had come to know. She seemed paler, smaller, empty.

The almost-Dr. Quartz spoke with a rasp, like she’d been sick. “I’m so sorry to pull you into this. I hope you don’t feel obligated to help me. I know it’s a lot to ask – too much, actually.”

“No, I want to help, Dr. Quartz. I’ll do everything I can.”

She heard voices from behind her, but her future-self didn’t turn around and the words were fuzzy and indistinguishable.

“It’ll be dangerous. I can’t guarantee your safety. Or anyone’s, to be completely honest. I’m… I’m out of my depth.” She looked like she would break if a strong wind blew.

“We all are, doctor. Almost all the time. We’ll get him back, okay?”

Her mind fuzzed out of the vision, returning her to the present slowly. She was, again, in her chair in Dr. Quartz’ office, but there was sunlight filtering in from the West-facing windows. The sun would set, soon. The roses in the flower box were alive and well, if nearing the end of their blossoming season. The doctor was watching her with her mouth slightly agape. Her notepad was full of illegible scribbles, obviously written quickly and excitedly.

“Sapphire?”

“I’m so sorry. I’m back.” Her voice was syrupy, like she’d just woken up.

“Was that… an episode?”

“Yeah, I had a vision. It was… it was bad.”

Rose looked concerned. “What did you see?”

“I saw… you. You looked awful. Not like, bad, but like… you looked sick. Scared. We were talking about helping someone. ‘We’ll get him back.’” Sapphire furrowed her brow, hoping the doctor had some explanation. Dr. Quartz just shook her head, having no inkling of who or what they had discussed.

Sapphire pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. “It’s hard to remember, they’re like dreams. You forget about them when you start to wake up all the way.”

Rose noted that too before suggesting, “Have you considered keeping a journal? People often need to write down their dreams right when they wake up in order to remember them. That might help you keep track of your visions. Try this for me; write down a quick summary of every vision you have, and try to determine where and when you are in the vision. Maybe we can improve your memory for these things. I’ve read up on future vision atypicals, and many of them are able to learn to direct their future vision, calling upon it to ask specific questions rather than waiting for visions to present themselves.”

“Wait, there are other psychics??”

“Oh, yes, dear. The atypical community is surprisingly broad. I think you’ll find that there are more people who understand you, or at least have that capacity, than you originally thought possible.”

Sapphire left her session that week feeling like a part of something bigger, for the first time in her life.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for the short hiatus. I'm back, things are going well, thanks for the well wishes. As promised, I'll post an extra chapter this week.
> 
> This chapter marks a change in the narrative, so there'll be less appointments and more interaction between characters.

Soon, fall froze over, and the classic Boston Winter kicked into high gear. The sun started to set earlier and earlier. Rose was talking to all the regulars about group sessions. It took a few weeks for everyone to warm up to the idea, and a few more for Pearl to find a 1-hour timeslot that fit into everyone’s schedules. In the meantime, Pearl was babysitting Steven at least once a week, always and ever wanting to be helpful. He was growing up at an alarming rate. It was giving Pearl whiplash, but Rose couldn’t be happier.

Peridot began her official pursuit of a friendship with Lapis Lazuli. She invited Lapis to get frozen yogurt before both of their appointments one week, and Lapis hesitantly agreed.

“Excellent! I love frozen yogurt!”

“Yeah, not many people want to go for froyo when it’s cold out, though.”

Peridot scoffed. “It’s never too cold for yogurt!”

Lapis chuckled, “Yeah, that’s what I think too.”

She didn’t really understand why Peridot wanted to hang out with her. She was in high school, college kids were so far out of her league, socially. But she went along for the ride. She let her tiny new friend gush to her about her favorite TV show, which she actually went home and checked out, mostly out of curiosity. After that, she was hooked. They started meeting every week to talk about Camp Pining Hearts. Lapis was surprised to find herself really looking forward to hanging out with Peridot. Peridot was beyond elated to have found a friend who didn’t actively create distance between them. It was also cathartic for both of them to talk freely about their powers. Rose nearly cried out for joy when she saw the two girls laughing together in the waiting room one day, Lapis having created goggles of water that were covering Peridot’s eyes.

Lapis expressed her pessimism about Dr. Maheswaran’s family counseling, loudly and often. However, Lapis’ spirits were noticeably buoyed up by the presence of this mystery girl in her life. They were constantly snapchatting back and forth, and Lapis started referring to her as her girlfriend after the first couple weeks. Peridot expressed that she was happy for Lapis, finding another friend-who-is-a-girl. Lapis didn’t correct her. A week or so after that, she proudly reported to Peridot that she had run away from home to live with her girlfriend. Rose was… concerned, to say the least. Peridot was happy to hear that she was living with a friend instead of her terrible parents. Peridot never asked for her name, but she caught a glimpse of a selfie sent to Lapis – the girl had bushy bleach-white hair, burnt orange skin like she lived in a tanning bed, and a predatory grin. Peridot tried her best to keep her mind out of Lapis’ phone, although sometimes things did drift in, especially when Lapis was actively typing them in front of her. “I miss you too, but I’ll see you tonight!” “No, I’m not with anyone right now, I’m just on my way to the doctor’s.” “Just a friend, I swear.” “No, you’re right, I’m sorry.” Peridot didn’t much like the sound of that, but Lapis seemed happy. Who was she to say anything about how friendships should work?

After her big defeat at the first wrestling match of the season, Amethyst fell into a noticeable funk. She was losing match after match, and whenever someone asked about it, she could be heard muttering “goddamn big buff cheeto puff” under her breath. Rose spent a lot of time trying to convince the girl to build herself back up – one loss didn’t change her value as a person – but Amethyst wasn’t up to it. She had lost her glimmer. Everyone was worried about her, Ruby, Rose, and even Pearl. Pearl usually put on a good show of being annoyed by the girl, but she found herself almost missing Amethyst’s bad pick-up lines and borderline harassment, just for the break in monotony.

Ruby, not entirely knowing why, had permanently switched appointment times with Amethyst after that first week. Part of her reasoned that the later time worked better for her work schedule. Part of her craved the fluttering feeling of being in the same room as the blue-haired girl – Sapphire, her name was. She didn’t analyze those feelings too closely.

Sapphire had gotten into the habit of coming to the office early, just in case Ruby came out of her appointment early. Even if she rarely had the courage to exchange more than casual greetings, she felt electric currents all through her body whenever they were together. One day, Ruby came out a full ten minutes before Sapphire’s session time, and Pearl went into the doctor’s office to discuss something. Sapphire wanted to say something as Ruby walked over to sit beside her, but something was caught in her throat – probably her heart.

“Hey, Sapphire!” Ruby always seemed so comfortable, like there was nowhere in the world she didn’t belong.

“Ruby.” Sapphire was thankful that she didn’t fuss or fidget when she was nervous; she just froze up. _Hah._ She took a moment to build up her nerve. “Do you like shawarma?”

Ruby furrowed her brow. “I don’t think I’ve ever tried it. That’s the stuff in the Avengers post-credit scene, right?”

Sapphire rolled her eyes behind her bangs, which she had kept long ever since the doctor grew them out for her. “Yes. It’s the Avengers thing. It’s like Mediterranean barbecue. Anyway, there’s a shawarma place down the street, I was wondering if you’d want to go after my session tonight?”

Juxtaposed with Sapphire’s tense stillness, Ruby smiled easily. “Yeah, I’d love to try it out. Why don’t I just hang out here for an hour and we can walk over together.”

A quiet scoff, “You don’t have to do that, we can meet there if that’s easier for you.”

“Well, it doesn’t make much sense for me to go home, then turn around and come right back. It’s fine. I basically live here anyway.”

Sapphire brushed her bangs out of the way of her good eye to make direct eye contact with Ruby. She might have imagined it, but she thought she saw Ruby gulp. “I don’t want to put you out of your way. We can just take a rain check.”

“NO. Sorry. But no, really. I don’t mind at all. I, uh, I have some readings to do for class, anyway! I’ll hang with Pearl, and I’ll be right here when you finish up tonight.” Ruby smiled warmly. Sapphire couldn’t help but think everything about the girl was warm.

_Fuck, I’ve got it bad._

At that moment, Pearl came out of the office. “You can go on in, Ms Gem.”

Sapphire nodded, leaving Ruby with a small smile before disappearing into the appointment room. Ruby watched her go, not noticing her fingertips starting to light up.

“Ms Crystal, please don’t light the furniture on fire. Again.” Pearl’s calm voice cut through Ruby’s trance. She recoiled her hands from the arms of her chair, looking confusedly at her fingertips that had spontaneously combusted… because of her having made a new friend? _Well, that’s new._


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw panic attacks

Sapphire slumped back into the armchair. “I can’t do it, doctor!”

Rose frowned down at her notepad, which was still empty even after half of Sapphire’s session. They had been working for a while on her future vision. Rose had read so many papers and histories of psychics who had their first controlled vision after a week of training. She had run through every visualization tactic in the book, every recall exercise and physical simulation. Still, Sapphire couldn’t conjure a vision on command.

“I’m sure it will come with time, Sapphire. Maybe there’s some sort of mental block that’s preventing this particular floodgate from opening.”

Sapphire threw her hands up in a defeated shrug, sighing heavily and letting her hands fall back into her lap.

“You have to work with me here, Sapphire. You have to let your ability into every facet of yourself if you want to interface with it fully.”

“I don’t know how to do that, okay? I don’t know how to ~open myself up to my power~” She made wobbly hand gestures to indicate her disdain for the idea. “What the hell does that even mean?”

And so, the ice queen remained mostly unable to control her future vision. She had identified the feeling of a vision coming on, and had recently learned how to delay them if she needed to, which was hard enough. Dr. Quartz told her stories of high-powered psychics who could See whatever they wanted, whenever was convenient for them. She roiled with jealousy.

She also remained unable to form a cloud anywhere besides around/under her own body. The doctor pointed out a pattern that the ice always originated from her: icicles from her fingers, a cloud under her feet, a snowball in her hand. It was apparently not unheard of, for an atypical’s powers to be limited to physical contact. Sapphire had to wonder how much literature there was on the topic of atypicals if they were supposed to be such a big secret. Dr. Quartz seemed to have either met or read about people with almost any superpower imaginable. Sapphire wondered how she had come to know so much about atypicals. The doctor had some very obviously prepared tactics for avoiding that line of questioning, it seemed.

_Interesting._

As her session drew to a close, she felt her stomach start to tighten up again. _What if she got bored? What if she left? What if she_ didn’t _leave? That almost sounds worse. What am I even going to say to her?_ She was whipping herself up into a panic, trying to visualize all of the possible futures. _Now would be an EXCELLENT time for my psychic powers to start working right!_ Short breaths. Fuzzy vision. Stomach tightly coiled.

The doctor, knowing a panic attack when she saw one, sat on the ground in front of Sapphire’s chair. “You’re okay. It’s okay. They’re only thoughts, they can’t hurt you. You have nothing to fear. Listen to my voice, Sapphire, I’m here. Can you speak?” At Sapphire’s breathless nod of affirmation, the doctor did a call and response exercise. Mantras, for Sapphire to learn and use when she found herself getting overwhelmed.

“Repeat after me, dear. It was just a thought.”

“Just a thought.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s okay.”

“We can watch them go by from here.”

“From here.”

After a few moments of silence, Sapphire started to apologize, but the doctor shushed her. They drank some water and sat quietly while the last few minutes of the appointment ticked by. And, sure enough, when she stepped out into the waiting room, eyes red and face pale, Ruby was sitting right where she left her.

“Hey, ready to go? Oh, hey, are you okay?” Ruby stood and rushed over, hovering her hand above Sapphire’s shoulder, waiting for permission.

Sapphire leaned into Ruby’s hand, nodding quietly. “It was really nothing.” Ruby looked skeptical, but she let it go. They stood like that just long enough for it to be awkward, before Ruby dropped her hand back to her side.

“Let’s head out, I’m starving.”

“Sure. It’s not far from here.” Sapphire led the pair outside and down the block to her favorite dinner spot. They talked about the weather, about their majors, about their favorite TV shows. It turned out they both liked the same stupid cartoon about gay aliens, and they were both really excited to talk about it with someone. It wasn’t until they got their food and sat down in the corner of the empty storefront that Ruby built up the guts to ask the big question.

“So, what are you in for?”

“… ‘In for’?”

“C’mon, you know. You’ve been seeing Q for weeks now. People don’t stick around this long unless they’re… you know…” Ruby made a significant gesture.

“Oh, I see.” Sapphire put down her falafel wrap to look Ruby in the eye with the most deadpan expression she could muster. “Schizoaffective disorder. The doctor is still trying to discern whether I’m a danger to myself and others.”

Ruby blanched. _Oh my god, I’m an asshole. She’s not even atypical, and now I’m prying or whatever, oh my god she’s gonna hate me forever oh my g-_

Ruby was mentally cut off my Sapphire giggling quietly.

“I’m messing with you. I’m…” Sapphire looked around to make sure no one was listening. “I’m psychic and cryokinetic.”

Ruby’s gaping mouth twisted into a disbelieving grin. “You fucking did that!” Laughter bubbled up from both girls, though Sapphire’s was still reserved. “Oh, my god, I felt like such a dick! Could you imagine if you were just a patient, no idea what atypicals are, and I asked a question like that? I thought I totally botched my chances with you! Sapphire Gem, you are a stone cold bitch.” Ruby was still smiling and laughing, so Sapphire shrugged to accept the compliment.

 _My chances with you._ Sapphire stopped herself from hoping. That could mean anything. “So, what about you? What do you… do?”

“Wanna see?” Ruby waggled her eyebrows. Sapphire shrugged again.

She rested her hands, palm up, on the table. In each palm, a tiny crackling flame sprung to life, like two tiny campfires. Sapphire couldn’t stop herself from gasping. She reached her pale hands towards Ruby’s dark ones, feeling the warmth. The flames died out. Sapphire looked back up at Ruby, who was closely studying the proximity of their hands. _Does she want me to hold them?_ But hesitation turned to frozen discomfort, and both girls retreated. They finished eating quietly, occasionally commenting on the food.

Ruby decided she liked Mediterranean. Sapphire decided she liked Ruby.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: toxic relationship (codependency, gaslighting)

Peridot sat at a booth in the back corner of the yogurt shop across from the doctor’s office, waiting for her Camp Pining Hearts buddy to meet her. Peridot always looked forward to hanging out with Lapis, and she was especially excited to talk about this week’s episode. It was the midseason finale and Percy had shared exactly 6.8 seconds of eye contact with Pierre over the course of the episode. All of her favorite ship blogs were atwitter with meta-analysis, and she had some interesting theories to report. She swayed side to side slightly as she mentally ran through the list of things she had to mention to Lapis.

The bell tinkled as the door swung open, letting in an icy draft. Lapis looked smaller, somehow. She was wearing a hoodie that looked much too big for her, with her high school’s softball logo on the breast.

_Lapis doesn’t play softball…_

Her head was down, her shoulders slumped. A forced smile barely belied how tired she was, while the bags under her eyes told the full truth. She slid into the booth across from Peridot with a huff, like she was grateful just to be sitting down. Her dour demeanor stood in stark contrast to the brightly colored, chrome-covered self-serve yogurt joint.

Warily, Peridot asked, “Hey… Do you wanna get yogurt?”

“Too cold for yogurt.”

Peridot quirked an eyebrow, remembering how during their first meeting they laughed about how it’s never too cold for frozen yogurt. Maybe Lapis was sick. She certainly looked worse for wear.

“Do you wanna go to that tea place instead? I don’t mind…”

“Peridot, just go buy your froyo. I’ll wait here.”

Peridot nervously got up from the table and made herself a giant sundae. _Just because you have a cold doesn’t mean you need to snap at me._ While she paid at the register, she thought it might be for the best to peek into Lapis’ phone to see if there was anything going on… _Hmm. No texts. No recent calls, it looks like. Maybe there’s something in her snapchat. I hate trying to hear snapchats, everything is an image file. Ugh_.

Peridot couldn’t get anything at all. Everything on snapchat just gets deleted. She could probably dig up some of her messages in the snapchat server, but she’d need to get her hands on the device. Not likely.

Sitting down with a full cup of maple flavored frozen yogurt with waffle cone crunch on top, she decided to launch into the CPH spiel she’d partially prepared, hoping the cartoon drama would snap the girl out of her funk.

“… and I saw another post on a different blog that showed the two of them having the exact same watch in two different scenes. Here’s a screencap from before the canoe race, Percy is wearing it. After the bonfire, Pierre is wearing it. And since it’s a watch, this person thinks the show writers are trying to tell us it’s just a matter of _t i m e_ before Percy and Pierre are canon!” She looked up from her phone, where she had been zooming in and out on various screencaps from the show, to see Lapis nodding distantly.

Peridot sighed. _She’s not even listening._ She looked the girl over. She looked a bit skinnier, which was hard for Lapis, who had always been slight. Where the sleeves of her hoodie rode up, there were traces of bruises on both wrists.

“Lapis, what…” as she reached for the girl’s wrists, Lapis jolted. She pulled her arms into her lap, away from Peridot.

“Are you okay? Is there something wrong?”

“I’m fine, Peridot.”

“Then… what-“

“Listen, I’m gonna go to Dr. Quartz’ office now. Don’t wanna be late.” Without another word, she stood and walked across the shop.

“See you next week?” Peridot yelled after her, but she got no response besides the tinkling of the bell as the door swung shut behind her friend. Baffled, she looked at the clock. They had a good hour before Lapis’ appointment was scheduled to start, and the office was only a little more than a block away. _Don’t wanna be late…_

Lapis huddled herself against the cold wind before turning onto the right side street. She tried to call Peridot nasty things in her mind – _nosy, annoying, fucking know-it-all –_ but the words lacked venom. In her heart, she liked Peridot. She was silly and fun and _honest._ With her, she was getting exactly what she bargained for. It wasn’t Peridot’s fault they couldn’t hang out anymore. She had to train herself not to like her anymore, because she couldn’t deal with being her friend anymore. She couldn’t deal with the guilt.

Her girlfriend’s words kept floating through her mind. “ _If you like me so much, why are you spending time with that other chick? Aren’t I enough for you? Do you want to be with her instead??”_ And she was right. Lapis wasn’t treating her fairly. She loved her girlfriend, and she would do anything she wanted to prove that to her. She didn’t need Peridot. All she needed was her girlfriend, who was so amazing to her even though Lapis felt like she was such a terrible partner.

_After all that she’s done for me. She offered to take me in when my parents kicked me out. She’s the reason I even have this hoodie, instead of just the t shirt I was wearing when I left home. I’m lucky she lets me come see Dr. Quartz anymore, I really shouldn’t push it._

Her mind was swirling. She couldn’t tell which way was up. The only thing she could genuinely latch onto was her girlfriend, and whatever she said.  The last thing she wanted to do was tell Dr. Quartz what was going through her mind – _she’ll just tell me our relationship is unhealthy. We’re not, our relationship is perfect and we love being like this, but no one else would ever understand._

Lapis was sleepwalking through her appointment that day. Dr. Quartz was concerned, but Lapis kept tiredly reassuring her that from the moment she left her parent’s house, she felt free as a bird. She kept tiredly reassuring herself of that, too.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: gun violence, panic attacks

After their first not-date, Ruby and Sapphire started talking outside of the office. Sapphire pined. Ruby pined too, she just didn’t register the feeling. Amethyst started curating fire and ice jokes after the second time Ruby ditched her to hang out with her ‘new girlfriend’.

“Dude, we’re just friends. Neither of us are even gay.”

“Oh please! Have you seen the girl? She wears a black wire choker and blue lipstick. She’s gay as fuck, dude.”

“Okay, well, whatever. We’re just friends. I gotta go now, or I’m gonna be late meeting her.”

“Have a _chill_ time!”

“Yeah, fuck you too.” Ruby ended the call, smiling. Truly, some of the best friends to have are the ones who hear the “I love you”s under the “fuck you”s.

She was a block away from the address Sapphire had texted her. It was a cold Friday night, and she was going to hang out with one of the coolest people she knew. She was in a great mood that she felt she would never come down from.

Famous last words.

She buzzed Sapphire’s apartment and waited on the porch. From behind her came a shout. Standing on the porch, she could see into an alley across the way, where it looked like a group of guys were yelling. She couldn’t distinguish the words, and the lighting was too dim to distinguish one figure from the next, but the tone of the conversation was unmistakable. Someone messed up in a big way. _Should I call someone?_ She immediately discounted that thought. Who would she call? The police? All of those guys would just end up dead. Maybe she would, too. She continued to watch, uneasily. She sent up a quick text to Sapphire: _Hey there’s some sketchy guys across the way, come let me in._ Their yelling got louder, and it looked like some of them were pushing and shoving against each other.

_Bang!_

_Thud._

Ruby’s heart skipped a beat, and someone’s stopped. The crowd of guys scattered, all of them running down the alley and away from Ruby. Well, all but one.

Ruby felt like she couldn’t breathe, even after she started to gasp for air. The corners of her vision were going fuzzy. Each and every one of her muscles was tensed, frozen.

_Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckingshitfuckfuck_

She was no longer on Sapphire’s front stoop in a sketchy neighborhood outside the city. She was leaving her childhood karate studio, waiting for her mom to pick her up. That was the night she had gotten her green belt, and she couldn’t wait to show it off. She saw her mom coming down the block from the direction of the bus stop. Before she could start bounding in her direction, she saw a shadowy guy come up behind her mom and pull her into a side alley. That was when Ruby started running and yelling. It was late, and dark, and the streets were mostly empty, but surely someone would hear her shouting for help?

Running as hard as she could, she was almost to the alley when she heard the shot.

_Bang!_

_Thud._

Sapphire basically flew down the stairs as soon as she heard the shots. She opened the door, only to find her friend crouched with her head between her knees. Sapphire threw herself down next to Ruby, who was shaking on the ground, breathing jagged, eyes wild. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sapphire was amazed at the unbridled emotion that existed in some people. Anger, fear, confusion, hopeless sorrow: so many feelings playing out plainly across Ruby’s glazed eyes and sweat-slicked face. Closer to the forefront of her mind, she knew that Ruby was so fixated on something that she would be unable to pull herself back to reality.

“Ruby, Ruby, it’s me, I’m here. You’ll get through this. Just tell me what you need. What can I do to help?” she pleaded, but Ruby was too far gone. Should she hold Ruby? No, she’d probably end up feeling constricted and panic even more. Should she go get her some water? No, leaving Ruby alone was not an option right now. At all. Negative. _Shit, if Dr. Quartz were here she’d know what to do._ Sapphire did the only thing she could think of…

“Take a moment, remind yourself to take a moment and find yourself.

Take a moment to ask yourself if this is how you fall apart.

But it’s not, but it’s not, but it’s not, but it’s not, but it’s not.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.

You’ve got nothing, got nothing, got nothing, got nothing to fear.

I’m here, I’m here, I’m here

It was just a thought, just a thought, just a thought, just a thought, just a thought.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay.

We can watch, we can watch, we can watch, we can watch them go by

From here, from here, from here”

She didn’t know how long she’d been singing before Ruby pulled herself up to sit next to Sapphire. Ruby’s eyes fell closed, her breathing started returning to normal. Her muscles slowly relaxed, encouraging Sapphire to continue the song, even though she’d run out of mantras from Dr. Quartz. She started making the song up as she went along, based on a melody she had heard a long time ago that she found soothing.

“I’m here, you’re here too, we’re here together. Hmmmm” She ended up just humming, watching Ruby start to come back to herself.

“That was beautiful”

“I just wanted to help” she felt her cheeks flush at the praise.

“Well you did. Thank you.” Ruby quirked a smile and reached for a hand, which Sapphire gladly gave. They sat quietly for a bit, while Ruby tried to regulate her breathing.

“Can you stand?”

Ruby gulped but nodded. Sapphire pulled her up and into her building. They had to take a break on the stairs, but soon they were curled up in Sapphire’s warm apartment on the couch, waiting for the kettle to boil. Ruby had not released Sapphire’s hand.

“Thank you.” Sapphire just smiled softly.

They let the moment linger for another few minutes before Sapphire broke the silence. “So, do you wanna talk about it?”

Ruby gulped. “Some guy, across the street. He- Oh, my god, they shot him! Oh, god, we have to call someone!” She suddenly stiffened up, remembering exactly what triggered her.

“Shh, sh. I did. I always call when I hear shots.”

“Always? Does this happen often around here?” Ruby sounded incredulous.

“It’s, uh. It’s not the best neighborhood.”

“Holy shit, Sapph.”

Sapphire shrugged. It was better not to think about it.

After a beat, Ruby spoke again- “so, did you get all that from the doc?” At Sapphire’s demure nod, Ruby chuckled “Hate to tell ya, Sapphy, but I think we’re getting ripped off. She taught me the same mantras. Starting to sound like fortune cookie psychology, huh?” Sapphire started to giggle, and Ruby took that small victory and ran with it “Maybe it’s all a big conspiracy! Maybe she’s just giving us shit off those stupid inspirational posters- you know, the ones in employment agency waiting rooms with the big landscape picture and an abstract noun in a serif font. INDEPENDENCE. PERSISTENCE. JUSTICE. I wonder how many other of Dr. Q’s clients know those exact words. Don’t you feel used, Sapphy? CHEATED? Bait-n-SWITCHED?” Ruby started to wave her arms around crazily in a parody of herself, still holding Sapphire’s hand and yanking her arm around like a limp noodle. Sapphire was almost shrieking with laughter. Ruby chuckled along, dropping their held hands back into her lap as something warm bubbled up in her. Pride, maybe? _I made the famous ice queen crack up._ Ruby leaned her head on Sapphire’s shoulder and reveled in the minute shaking of her shoulders as her laughter died down slowly. Meanwhile, Sapphire rested her head in the pillow that Ruby’s curls provided, understanding exactly what the effervescent warmth in her core meant. _I just extinguished the famous eternal flame. Oh and oops I’m in love with her._

Not a good line of thinking to follow right now. Topic change.

“So, that guy getting... the gunshot made you panic?”

Ruby sighed heavily. “When I was little I saw my mom get shot.”

Sapphire exhaled sharply, squeezing their held hands briefly. There was nothing to say.

The kettle whistled, and Sapphire extricated herself from Ruby’s side to go fix two mugs of hot cocoa. Returning to the couch, she let Ruby lean against her again.

“My dad died when I was a kid, too.”

“Shit, Sapphire, I’m so sorry.”

Sapphire shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine. That’s terrible.”

“Well, yeah, it’s not fine, but. I’ve processed it. It was a long time ago.

“Still sucks.”

Sapphire barked a short laugh that she couldn’t hold back. “Yes, it definitely still sucks.”

Ruby looked at Sapphire heavily, like she was trying to bore through a wall with just her gaze. “Sapph, you know it’s okay to not be okay, right? You’re allowed to be sad about that kind of stuff.”

After a beat of confused silence, Sapphire turned away to stare into her mug.

“I just… don’t want to feel it if I don’t have to.”

“You do have to! You have to be honest about how bad it feels so you can move on! That’s how it was for me.”

Sapphire tilted her head, and decided to trust Ruby. She tried to think about how she felt when her father died. _Lonely._ What else was new with her life? _Sad._

But had she been sad? She distinctly remembered feeling guilty for not being as sad as she should have been. She loved him very much, and missed him every day, but she remembered everyone crying at his funeral and she couldn’t muster it. She remembered feeling very…

Empty.

_Oh._

Something clicked in Sapphire’s mind. She was Seeing, but it was like the first time again. Loud colors, bright sounds, no discernable shapes or figures to ground herself in the vision. Her mind was flooded with images of visions from over the years. She saw a young version of herself, remembered through the eyes of an even younger version. She saw things that came to pass, things that didn’t, and things that she didn’t even understand. She saw visions she had when she was younger, visions she would have when she was older, visions seen through the eyes of someone who was not quite her at all. She saw Ruby reaching out to touch her shoulder, as she would do in about 5 minutes. She saw the inside of her apartment as it would look in an hour, and a day, and a week, and a month, all at once.

“Oh, FUCK.” Sapphire clutched her head and then choked out a sob.

“Sapph, are you okay?”

“ _No!_ My dad _died!_ My mother refused to raise me! I had no friends for the first twenty years of my life because of my fucking visions! I’m partially blind! What the _fuck!”_

She heaved another heavy sob as Ruby reached out to touch her shoulder, and then pulled her into a crumpled hug. She let her cry for a while about all of the things that she had been refusing to feel over the course of her life. Ruby ran her fingers through long, blue hair and “shhhhh”-ed comfortingly.

Sapphire’s shoulders stopped quaking, and she sighed heavily into Ruby’s neck where she’d nestled her tear-stained face.  “On the bright side, I think you fixed my faulty superpower”

Ruby looked quizzically at Sapphire, who had no explanation. She just continued to hold her head and breathe heavily.

The girls noticed a shift. They were no longer friendly acquaintances who sometimes met up for shawarma. Sitting there together, they took solace in each other. Neither of them had suffered the same way, or recovered the same way. Neither of them was better or worse off. They both just had shit to carry.

Now, they were helping to carry each other’s shit. It was… nice.

They spent hours talking about anything and everything. Nothing was off the table anymore. They showed off their powers to each other, and talked about their families, and their dreams. Sapphire was losing a valiant battle against a particularly obnoxious yawn.

“Damn, I didn’t realize it was so late. I’m keeping you awake, I should go.” Ruby went to leave her empty cocoa mug in the sink.

“You don’t have to go, really. I’m not that tired” her words were belayed by another yawn.

Ruby smiled. _She really has the warmest smile._ Sapphire scolded herself again for being so _unbelievably_ gay.

“Nah, I’m tired too. It’s fine, it’s just a couple blocks to the closest T stop.”

Sapphire shook her head. “It’s past midnight, the trains will have stopped.”

Ruby checked the time on her phone and swore. “Lyft it is, I guess.” She groaned. “The surge is gonna be brutal this late on a Friday night.”

A beat. “You could stay.”

The offer hung in the air. Sapphire, looking down at her empty mug. Ruby, looking down at her seated friend.

“Really?”

A tentative nod “Stay.”

After much awkward shuffling around each other, Sapphire showed Ruby into her bedroom.

“Do you wanna borrow something to sleep in?” Sapphire offered the girl an old t-shirt and a pair of soffe shorts, and Ruby nodded. She grabbed the offered pajamas and tossed them down onto the bed and turned her back to Sapphire, reaching for the hem of her own shirt.

_Fuck._

Sapphire had a homosexual emergency for exactly 0.2 seconds before she turned her back, face flushed. It was long enough to see the plane of Ruby’s back – she wasn’t even wearing a bra.

_Of course she’s not. That’s so fucking on-brand for her._

She grabbed a thin shift dress out of her own closet and slipped out of the room, trying not to take advantage of the situation any more than she already had.

In the bathroom, she splashed some water onto her face and made eye contact with herself in the mirror.

“Why are you like this?” she huffed, exasperated with her own shit.

When Sapphire came back into the bedroom, hair braided back and face washed, Ruby was already tucked into the far side of the bed.

“I’m just gonna grab my pillow. I’ll be in the living room, feel free to wake me if you need anything.”

Ruby made a face. “What? No way, you don’t need to sleep on the couch.”

Sapphire stopped like a deer in the headlights.

Noticing this, Ruby continued. “This bed’s plenty big. C’mon.” She shifted herself onto her half of Sapphire’s bed before patting the empty space beside her. The way she moved, the hem of her t-shirt hiked up and Sapphire saw a little strip of skin at her hip. Her brain came to a screeching stand-still.

Ruby rolled her eyes, smiling. “C’mon, Sapph, it’s cold as a witch’s tit in here. Get under the blankets.”

After a second, she relented. _I am such a bad friend._ She flicked off the lights and slid under the covers next to Ruby. Laying stock-still on her back, she was hyper aware of the distance between them, wanting to be closer but not wanting to breach any more boundaries.

Ruby had no such convictions. She flopped onto her side, leaning her back against Sapphire and exhaling happily.

“God, Sapph, your apartment has the worst insulation. How do you live here all winter?” As Ruby whined about the cold, she snuggled slightly closer.

“I’m made of ice, remember?”

Sapphire was so out of her element. So far, there was no reason to believe Ruby was interested in more than a friendship. There was not even a reason to believe that she was queer. The only thing Sapphire had to go on was a vision, and the future could always change.

She felt Ruby’s breathing even out when she fell asleep. Something about that made it easier. There was nothing she could do right now to influence the trajectory of their (nonexistent) relationship, so she might as well just enjoy this simple closeness. With that, she too drifted off.

Neither of them mentioned how, when they woke up the next morning, they were slightly more intertwined than they’d been when they fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What can I say, I'm a slut for the whole "one bed, what do??" trope.  
> This chapter is the first one I drafted for this fic after I watched mindful education for the first time.


	17. Chapter 17 (mini chapter)

Peridot (2:05 pm): Hey! Did you get around to watching the CPH midseason finale? You’ve gotta watch it before we go for frozen yogurt today!

 

Lapis (2:17 pm): No. Can’t talk now.

 

Peridot (2:19 pm): ?? Is everything okay?

 

Lapis (2:25 pm): I said I can’t talk right now.

 

Peridot (2:26 pm): Um… okay. Do you still wanna get frozen yogurt?

 

Lapis (2:44 pm): No.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think that little text convo was all you were getting this week, did you?

Ever since that night at Sapphire’s, she and Ruby were closer than ever. Sapphire was stupid for Ruby, completely head over heels. Ruby was just plain stupid.

It was at the end of one of her sessions that Dr. Quartz picked up on it. Ruby had spent the last fifteen minutes of the appointment watching the clock.

“Ruby, do you have plans later tonight?”

The question took her off-guard “Hmm? Oh! No, why?”

Rose’s face twisted up into a sly smile “You’ve been watching the seconds tick down like you can’t wait to get out of here. What’s going on with you?”

Ruby, embarrassed, looked down at her hands. “Nothing…”

Rose raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“Ugh, okay! I want to go talk to Sapphire. She usually gets here early for her appointment, so if I get out early I can sit and talk to her for a minute.”

Rose hid her grin _._ “And why are you so interested in Sapphire? You’re practically buzzing in your seat, dear.”

Ruby shrugged, feigning casual. “She’s my friend. I don’t know, haven’t you ever felt drawn to someone? Like, no matter how much you see them, you still miss them when they’re not around. She’s like, magnetic. I just _really_ want to be around her. It happens sometimes.”

Rose tried to lead her further down this path “I definitely have experienced that. Do you feel this magnetism with your other friends, like, Amethyst, for example?”

Ruby made a face “Nah, Amethyst is great, but it doesn’t feel like this. I think I admire Sapphire. Kind of like I want to be her? But I also just want to be around her. Like a lot more than Amethyst or any of my school friends.”

Rose nodded, still smirking slightly. “Sounds very much like the way I felt about my best friend upon our first meeting.”

“Pearl?”

“No, dear. Greg.”

Ruby felt like her train of thought had skipped the tracks. Everything that she was describing was how Dr. Q felt about her husband, who she loved. _Is this what a crush feels like?_

From some deeply buried corner of her mind, a voice chimed _Of course it is you fucking dumbass._

“What…”

Looking back, she felt like an idiot. Of course she had a crush on Sapphire. She’d had one this whole time. No one feels that fluttery and silly around someone they just want to be friends with! She thought about the way her stomach flipped when the girl smiled, or when she pulled her bangs back and made eye contact with Ruby.

She groaned aloud “Oh, my GOD, I’m so fucking stupid.” She buried her face in her hands

Rose giggled, “Would you like to share with the class, dear?”

Ruby looked up at the doctor. “I’m into Sapphire, aren’t I?”

Rose smiled “She is very pretty, isn’t she?”

Ruby felt her ribs pushing against her skin _She is so beautiful, her sweet smile, her stupid adorable bangs, her ice blue eye that feels like I’m being stabbed when she looks at me but in the best way, her stupid fucking blue hair that looks SO GOOD –_

Oh, lord, was she sunk.

“Yeah, really pretty. Shit. Does this – am I like, gay? Or bi, now?”

Rose laughed “Well, I think the theory goes that if you’re queer now you were always queer in some capacity. But, Ruby, having this attraction to Sapphire doesn’t define you. You can use it as a tool to help you define yourself, but in the end, you decide how you identify, or if you identify at all. Sexuality is a spectrum and only you can decide where you fall.”

Ruby nodded, feeling very lost. “I just… never even considered it. Like, I’ve always been an ally and everything, but… geez. I’m sitting here thinking about it and I can’t remember ever feeling this pull towards a guy. I just figured that romance was boring and sensationalized by the media. I’ve always just thought this feeling I have towards women was… normal. But, wait, I – “ Ruby suddenly looked like she’d swallowed a bug.

Rose tilted her head, concerned. “What?”

“… I totally had a crush on _you_ when we first started together. Oh, my god. I had no idea!”

Rose and Ruby simultaneously burst out laughing.

“Well, I am flattered, dear, but happily taken.”

Ruby, still laughing, waved her off. “Wow, that was years ago. Oh, I have to text Ame, she’ll be so pumped! She’s queer, too.”

Rose nodded, “That is largely evident any time she’s in the same room as Pearl.”

Ruby’s laughter died out very suddenly as her smile slid off her face. “Wait. This is not good. This is bad. This is really bad. I’m crazy about one of my best friends. That doesn’t mean she likes me. Oh, my god, what if she’s not even gay? What if she doesn’t want to be my friend anymore?”

Rose cleared her throat to stop herself from laughing, thinking back to Sapphire’s first appointment. “Well, darling, I can’t divulge any information entrusted to me by a patient, but I can say that… hm. Life is about taking risks. This is a risk worth taking.”

Ruby’s heart was pounding. “Is that Therapist for ‘don’t worry, she’s gay’?”

Rose contemplated. Maybe it was unprofessional, and maybe she was meddling, but she had been rooting for them for so long. She nodded silently.

Ruby exhaled sharply just as the clock chimed the end of the hour.

Dr. Quartz moved to sit down at her desk. “Not that it’s at all relevant to you, but I have some very important paperwork to sort through. I might not be able to start my next appointment for another, oh, ten minutes?” She looked pointedly at Ruby. After a second of mental buffering, Ruby shot up out of the chair and charged into the waiting room.

Sapphire looked up from her phone at the sound of the door slamming open. She stood. “Ruby, is everything okay??”

Ruby’s heart was pounding. _What do I even say? ‘Oh hey by the way I’m gay so if you’ve been harboring a secret crush on me this whole time now would be a great time to share.’_

“Ruby, you’re scaring me. Do you need me to count your breaths? Should I… should I sing?” Sapphire drew closer, slowly lacing her fingers with Ruby’s.

There were literally no words in Ruby’s entire brain. She was so close, so soft in her hands. Ruby did the only thing she could think of. She surged forward, their lips colliding. Something clicked in Ruby’s head. _This is how it’s supposed to feel._ Her brain went offline for a couple seconds before realizing that Sapphire had not moved a muscle. She was completely unresponsive. Ruby pulled back as if she’d been shocked, dropping their held hands. Sapphire’s eyes were wide. She was also breathing heavily.

“Shit, Sapphire, I’m so sorry. Oh, my god, I can’t believe I just did that. I’m so sorr— _oomf”_

Ruby was cut off by Sapphire lunging at her. Pale arms wound tight around broad, dark shoulders. Cold, chapped lips met warm. They moved together like two halves of a whole. Sapphire’s hand was in Ruby’s hair. Ruby’s hands found Sapphire’s waist, pulling her closer, and holding her down as she involuntarily started to float upwards.

It wasn’t long before they both had to come up for air, although they didn’t allow any distance to form between them.

“I-“

“What-“

They both panted slightly, smiling. Neither of them coherent enough to finish a thought.

“I think I’m gay.”

For some reason, this was the most ridiculous thing that Ruby could have said in that moment, and Sapphire nearly collapsed with laughter. After they had managed to seat themselves, Ruby looked apprehensively at her… friend?

“You gotta say something, Sapph, I’m kinda freaking out.”

She brushed her bangs out of the way to make direct eye contact. “Ruby, I’ve been having visions about you ever since I can remember. I fell for you a long, long time ago.”

Ruby looked positively gobsmacked. She moved her mouth like a fish, trying to form words she didn’t have.

Sapphire just smiled and leaned in for a slow, sweet kiss. Ruby met her halfway.

Something in this kiss was different. It was accepting, it was comfortable. It felt like coming home.

“Yes, doctor, I think they’re done... I’ll tell her… Yes, it was very sweet.” Pearl looked up, having finished her conversation with Rose. “You can go in for your appointment, Sapphire.”

They pulled further apart, sheepish at having forgotten about Pearl. The girls exchanged “text me later”s before exiting through opposite doors.

Sapphire knew she didn’t need to report the news about Ruby. The doctor was bursting with joy for the both of them. Rose thought this might have been the best day of her career.


	19. Chapter 19

After a tumultuous few weeks, it was finally time for the first group practice session. Rose insisted on referring to them as such, but Ruby and Amethyst kept calling it “superhero show-and-tell”, and of course, that’s the name that stuck.

Almost everyone was seated in the waiting room, waiting for Rose to meet them and unlock the appointment room. Even Pearl had come in, even though this wasn’t a typical work day for her. Amethyst rolled her eyes: _Anything for Rosie._ Ruby and Sapphire were sitting on the other side of the room, looking sickeningly cute. _Ah, the honeymoon phase._ Lapis Lazuli, the token question mark of the gang, had picked a seat in the corner and proceeded to bury her attention in her phone.

Amethyst was trying to conjure a pick-up line to use on Pearl. She was googling rhymes to fill a “roses are red” scheme – _what rhymes with bird…_ \--  when a tiny bespectacled girl flung the door open and responded:

“Heard. Slurred. Absurd. You could use that last one in almost any context. My name is Peridot.”

“Uhh, how did you-?”

Peridot plopped herself down in the seat next to Amethyst and began to blather away about her power. She launched into a story about how someone in her class had gotten a smart watch and how they were soooo hard to tune out. Amethyst couldn’t help but laugh along. Peridot’s conversational style was… jarring, to say the least. One moment she wasn’t there at all, the next she was halfway through a fucking dissertation about whatever she’d been thinking about all day. Amethyst thought it was hilarious. _Aw man, every atypical is so cool._

After a minute, Peridot fell silent. _Well, that’s out of character._ Amethyst considered the girl and saw her staring warily at the lovebirds, who had just shared a kiss and were now giggling about something one of them _– probably Ruby –_ had said. Peridot looked at Amethyst quizzically. “Is that normal platonic behavior here?”

Amethyst couldn’t help herself “Yeah, just gals bein’ pals.”

Peridot, in a rare shining moment of lucidity, caught the sarcasm “You’re joking…”

Amethyst rolled her eyes “Oh my god P-dot, yes I’m joking. They’re together.” Peridot looked no less confused “You know, they’re dating.”

“But, they’re both girls!” Peridot exclaimed with only confusion in her voice, no malice. And, it seemed, a little louder than she had intended. Pearl and Lapis both glanced over nervously, stopping what they had been doing. Ruby and Sapphire both looked down at their laps and froze, embarrassed.

The moment was so tense, that Amethyst couldn’t help but crack up. She did a quick mental roll call. _Me. Rue and Sapphire, obviously. Lapis? Yep. Pearl? Yep._ Still howling with laughter in a room full of confused, uncomfortable queer ladies and Peridot, Amethyst wheezed out “Holy shit, Peridot- Oh my god you have no idea why this is hilarious but it _is.”_

Thankfully, Rose chose that moment to glide in and dispel the tension.

“Hello, everyone! So glad you could all come today, I think we’ll have a very productive hour sharing our abilities and learning how they interact!” As she spoke, she unlocked the door to her office and watched all her little ducklings file in.

The armchairs and end tables had been cleared from the center of the room. As everyone came to stand in a circle in the available space, Peridot trailed behind Amethyst. She warily asked “So are they… are they actually… really? Those two?”

Amethyst’s laughter petered out. “Have you seriously never seen a gay couple before?” Peridot said nothing, her expression unchanged. Amethyst huffed out a breath “Listen, P-dot, people can love whoever they want here. I’m not gonna give you the whole lecture. Search Wikipedia for LGBTQ rights in the US.”

Ruby and Sapphire looked Peridot up and down, but Amethyst leaned over to them. “I don’t think she knows what’s up, but she doesn’t mean any harm. It’s probably just culture shock.”

All conversation ceased when Rose shut the door behind her with a thud and turned to greet the room. “Now, I know we have some friendships already forged here, but I’d still like to go around and have everyone give their name, their ability, and maybe something fun! A fun fact! I’ll start. I’m Dr. Quartz, I can manipulate living things, and my favorite thing is going to the beach with my son, Steven. He’ll be turning two soon.” She beamed, looking to Ruby who was standing on her right.

“Hey, I’m Ruby. I’m the pyro. Ummm… I dunno, I have a pet frog? That’s kind of fun, right?”

“I’m Sapphire. I’m psychic and cryokinetic-“

“Wait, she’s got two??” Amethyst stage-whispered to Rose accusatorily, as if she had personally distributed their powers.

“- and I’m not fun. I don’t have a fun fact.” She delivered this with such a deadpan finality that the whole room accepted it.

“I’m Lapis. I do water. I’m applying to MassArt, so wish me luck.” She spoke quickly and matter-of-factly.

“My name is Peridot! I’m technopathic which is kind of like clairvoyance for computers. I’m an international student from Egypt. I was born in the city but where I grew up was very conservative.” She said this, silently hoping her apology was implicit. She made quick eye contact with Ruby, who gave a thumbs-up.

“HelloOo, my name is Pearl. My superpower is being _suuuper_ annoying. My fun fact is that I drink Soylent at my desk for the express purpose of winning the Boringest Person Ever Award.” A Pearl-shaped person flung her long limbs around wildly in a parody of ballet dancing as she delivered her monologue, and peals of laughter poured out of Ruby and Peridot. Sapphire smirked, letting a puff of air escape her nose. Lapis did not even crack a smile.

“ _Amethyst_ ” Rose was also not amused.

“Fine, fine.” Amethyst returned to her original shape. “Name’s Amethyst, you can call me Ame – if you’re Ruby. I shapeshift, _ah_ -bviously. I’m at school right now on a killer wrestling scholarship, so basically I could hand anyone their own ass, if I wanted.” She looked around the room, feeling impressive.

Rose clapped her hands together. “Wonderful. Let’s get started.”

Under Rose’s supervision, the girls started to flex their muscles. They went around and individually demonstrated their powers. Lapis and Sapphire took turns protecting Amethyst and Peridot from Ruby’s fireballs. Peridot spent a while trying to use the temperature differential between Ruby and Sapphire to make a circuit, but they had no way to transmit the energy. Lapis and Sapphire found that they couldn’t manipulate one another’s element, but they could work in synergy, generating and freezing water in sequence.

They learned that Sapphire and Peridot’s power could build on each other, where if someone was thinking of typing something into a phone and Peridot planned to read what she heard out loud, Sapphire could tell everyone what that person was thinking of typing – it was like conditional mind reading and Rose was very excited about exploring that further. Ruby and Amethyst spent at least half the time goofing around. Lapis spoke only when spoken to and kept mostly to herself, which didn’t seem to concern anyone besides Peridot.

Rose was beaming by the end of the hour. “Wonderful job today, girls. Drink some water, get some rest. I hope this has been helpful for everyone.” Everyone nodded, murmuring their agreement and excitement to come back next week. Ruby and Sapphire walked out together, hands clasped, and Amethyst bounded along behind them like a puppy. All three of them were laughing.

Lapis drifted quietly out of the building and out onto the street.

“Hey, Lapis! I, uh, I missed you this week, you know, getting frozen yogurt! The next new episode of CPH is coming out soon, we should try to-“

Lapis whirled to face her. “Peridot, stop. I have a girlfriend, so you need to lay off.” The sharp words made Peridot stop in her tracks, a few feet behind Lapis on the sidewalk.

“I don’t understand…”

Lapis was caught between a rock and a hard place; she didn’t want to give up her friendship with Peridot, but she would have nothing if her girlfriend left her – including a place to stay. She wouldn’t go crawling back to her parents now.

“I don’t care about your stupid cartoon or your stupid school stuff or your stupid superpower. Stop texting me, okay? My girlfriend reads what you send me and it’s pissing her off. Yeah, _girlfriend,_ like Ruby and Sapphire, girlfriend.” She took two purposeful steps towards Peridot, such that she loomed over her. “Leave. Me. Alone.” And with that, she turned and stormed down the sidewalk, leaving Peridot standing stock still on the sidewalk. Her hijab flapped in the wind wistfully, and once she lost sight of her ex-friend turning a corner, she just screamed.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: discussion of manipulative/ abusive relationship

Lapis Lazuli sat listlessly in the waiting room of Dr. Quartz’ office, staring at her phone. Pearl eyed the girl warily. She’d been looking sick for weeks, now. Even her eyes looked like someone had clicked the light off and checked out, not to mention one eye was swollen and bruised. She watched the girl tense up as the appointment room door opened and Peridot Farid strode out of the office. Neither girl acknowledged the other, and after Peridot left, the awkward staleness hung in the air behind her.

“You can go ahead in, Ms Lazuli” Pearl watched the girl as she continued scrolling on her phone, unaware. “Lapis. Ahem.” her head snapped up like she was caught napping in class. “Go on in.”

Lapis trudged into the appointment room and sat down across from Rose. Rose observed her sagged shoulders, distant eyes, and the major bruise around the upper lid of her right eye.

Rose began cautiously. “How are you, Lapis?”

Lapis coughed before speaking. “Great. Free as a bird.” She said the syllables, but she didn’t even register the words.

Rose put her pen and paper down and spoke levelly. “Do you want to tell me how you got that black eye?”

Lapis, without thinking, raised a few fingers to the bruise. “It’s fine. She didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

Rose’s eyebrows shot up. “She? Your girlfriend, who you’ve been living with?”

Lapis snarled at the doctor “Listen, it’s fine, okay? She loves me!”

“She’s hurting you, Lapis.” Rose chastised herself for not noticing this trend sooner. She had known that Lapis would be vulnerable in a new relationship, and living together so soon after meeting almost always fostered codependency.

Lapis heard the remorse in the doctor’s voice and mistook it for pity, which tasted like bile. “Don’t fucking take that tone with me. It was an accident!” she spat at Rose.

“Did she _accidentally_ hit you in the face? What about your wrists a few weeks ago? Did she do that to you? Were those bruises just accidents, too?”

Lapis’ voice was rising “She apologized and told me it wouldn’t happen again.” Tears started to fall.

“And you’ve lost so much weight recently, is... Is she making you do this? Is she starving you?”

“She doesn’t like it when I eat all her food, she always complains about how much money I’m costing her.” Lapis had started to shake. The anger was abating and becoming something different. Something more harrowing.

Realization.

“Lapis, I think you need to consider the reality that this girl is abusing you.”

Lapis was nearly shrieking now “But she _loves_ me!” She crumpled in on herself, starting to sob.

Rose reached across to rest a hand on Lapis’ shoulder.

“She’s all I have. I have nowhere to go, and I just feel like I owe her so much.”

“Lapis, no one deserves to be abused. I know that she says she loves you, and she may even be telling the truth, but that’s not enough. No amount of love will overwrite the hurt she is doing you, and you have to put your own safety first.” Lapis shuddered out another sob, not encouraging the contact between her and the doctor, but not shrugging it off, either. “Dear, there are places you can go, places for people like you who are in unsafe situations. Women’s shelters, LGBTQ shelters, even staying with a friend.”

“I don’t fucking have any friends.”

Rose raised an eyebrow “Last I heard, you and Peridot were having weekly cartoon club meetings.”

Lapis exhaled sharply, wiping at her nose with her sleeve. She looked down at the sweater, recognized the softball logo, and ripped the hoodie off her body. She threw it on the floor.

“My girlfriend made me stop hanging out with Peridot. I was really mean to her, doctor, she probably hates me now.”

Rose nodded solemnly “It’s common for abusers to try to isolate their victims. I’m sorry to hear that happened to you as well, I should have seen the signs sooner. But I think your friendship with Peridot is salvageable. Peridot is resilient in a way not many people are. She’s something very special.” Rose smiled.

After a few more moments of shuddering sobs, Lapis cupped her hands in front of her. Water pooled in her hands and she dipped her face in. When she looked back up, her face was dry and her eyes were brighter. The doctor let Lapis recount stories from her relationship for the remaining portion of their appointment time. She mostly listened, sometimes pointing out instances of abuse that even Lapis hadn’t noticed at the time. The longer they talked, the more Lapis resolved to get out of this relationship.

“Do you mind if I call Peridot?” Rose shook her head, and Lapis pulled out her phone.

The phone rang once. Twice. After the third ring, Lapis was sure she’d lost this friend for good. But then, Peridot answered.

“Lazuli?” Her tone was guarded.

“Peridot, hi. I just wanted to call and apologize. I didn’t mean a lot of the things I said, last time we saw each other.” Rose nodded, encouraging.

“Err… Then why did you say all those things about me?”

Lapis sighed. “My girlfriend made me, kind of. She threatened me and hurt me, she told me that she would kick me out of her house if I kept hanging out with you. That’s no excuse for the way I treated you, but that’s the reason why.”

“Are you okay??”

Lapis looked at Rose. “No, but I think I will be. I’m going to leave her.”

“That sounds like the best course of action.”

“Yeah, um… you wouldn’t happen to have a couch I could crash on, do you?”

“I do! I even have the kind with a pull-out couch bed!”


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw discussion of toxic relationships

Dr Quartz’ office closed down for the holiday season while Rose and Steven went with Greg to a stuffy family gathering at his brother’s place. Amethyst had a big family outside the city, and her school had a longer winter session than the other local schools, so she had left the week before. Sapphire’s mother was away on business for Christmas so the couple went home to Ruby’s dad’s house. Ruby expected a bit more of a fight when she brought home her girlfriend from school, emphasis on “girl”, but her dad was surprisingly accepting. He did not let them sleep in Ruby’s bed together, though, so Ruby spent the week on the couch so that Sapphire could have a bed.

The only girls left in the area were Peridot, who didn’t want to go all the way home for such a short time off class, and Lapis, who had nowhere else to be. Peridot was excited to have her friend back, but Lapis was still acting a little ghost-like, so she wasn’t sure if Lapis was on the same page.

Peridot bounded into the living room where Lapis was sprawled on the couch. Her eyes were unfocused, staring at the wall. Peridot noticed this, and squatted down in her line of sight. “Hey, roomie! Wanna go ice skating? Apparently that’s a traditional activity people do for fun here. They just opened the rink this weekend and I’ve never—“

“No.” Lapis dispassionately rolled onto her back, staring up at the ceiling now.

Peridot stood, nervously. She wasn’t sure what she was doing wrong, but she couldn’t seem to win with Lapis. Peridot was glad Lapis was here at her dorm where she was safe, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Lapis actually _did_ hate her, even though she told Peridot it was just things she said to stay in that relationship. Lapis never wanted to do anything fun together, and she barely ever spoke. Peridot didn’t know what to do.

She sat down to her computer desk and opened google. Looking over her shoulder, she could see that Lapis has not shifted her gaze from the ceiling. _Good._

_Friend won’t speak to me._

The search returned a million results of advice blogs and reddit threads. Peridot clicked through a few of them before finding what promised to be an easy fix.

_A gift! I should have thought of that!_

Peridot thought for a while about what Lapis would want. _She likes Camp Pining Hearts… I could give her one of my dvds…. But I don’t really want to part with any of them… Maybe just season 5, which is trash… No, she wouldn’t want that._

_What else does Lapis like… what what what what…._

Peridot’s eyes glinted as she landed on an idea. _Water._

“I’m going out to run some errands, I’ll be back!”

Lapis grunted in acknowledgement and listened to Peridot scurry out the door. She felt a little bit bad about being the worst houseguest in history, but she was too busy feeling bad about other things to really rectify that situation. She couldn’t stop thinking about the beginning of her relationship. Things were _so_ good between them when they first started dating. Easy, sweet, unbridled love.

And then things were not so good. They started hurting each other. Lapis never hit her ex, but she would be lying if she said she was the perfect partner. She secretly loved taking out all her anger on her ex. Even about things that weren’t her fault, like family shit or school shit. Anything at all. She realized now that they stayed together so long because they loved hurting each other just as much as they loved each other.

Her ex’s words from their last argument reverberated in her head.

_I’m the only one who can handle your kind of crazy, babe. If you leave me now, you’ll never have anyone._

And Lapis remembered yelling back: _No! What we have isn’t healthy! I never want to feel this way again._

In retrospect, though, she felt like her ex might have been right. Maybe toxic abusive love is the best she can ever hope for. Maybe she truly doesn’t deserve anything better.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when a knock at the door interrupted her train of thought. _Ugh._

“Lazuli, are you there?? I’m coming in in a second but I need you to close your eyes!” A shrill voice shouted through the closed door and she heard keys jangling.

Lapis exhaled heavily and produced an eyemask made of water, which made everything too blurry to distinguish. Physically moving her hands would be too much work. “Kay.”

A blurry green blob bustled into the apartment, walked right over to the couch and placed something heavy on the table. Muttering, she ran into the kitchen, clattered around for a minute, and came back with something else that sounded heavy. Lapis heard the sound of water pouring.

“Okay, open!”

Lapis sat up to look at what Peridot had brought home.

“A fish?”

“It’s a fish!” Peridot was obviously very excited. She waved her hands as she spoke, “The lady at the store said betta fish are very easy to take care of. I was thinking we could call her pumpkin, because she’s orange!” Lapis stared at the fish confusedly for a second before Peridot sighed. “I… wanted to get you something. I know water is your thing, so … I don’t know, maybe it was a bad idea.”

Lapis’ eyes widened. Peridot didn’t just get a fish, she got a fish _for her_.

“Peridot, I- I don’t deserve this“ Lapis moved to lay back down but she was stopped by a groan from Peridot.

“I just… I don’t know why you still don’t like me! I thought we were friends before, but now, even though you’re not with that girl, I feel like we’re not! You don’t want to talk to me, or do things with me, and… I don’t know what’s going on!”

“It’s not about you!”

Peridot had no response. She looked quizzically at Lapis, waiting for a follow-up.

“I’m sorry I’m not being a very good houseguest, or a very good friend for that matter, but it’s not because I don’t like you, Peridot. I like you a lot. You’re very honest and fun and easy to be around. You’re being such a good friend to me even after I’ve been so terrible to you. I’m sorry.” Lapis’ eyes started to water.

Peridot shook her head, coming to sit on the couch next to Lapis. “The things you said did hurt me but I know why you said them and I forgive you. If it’s not about me, what is it that’s making you…” Peridot drifted off and gestured broadly to all of Lapis.

“I’m depressed, and tired, and … and I miss her.”

Peridot screwed up her face in confusion “But… she was terrible!”

Lapis shouted back, “I’m terrible, too!”

Peridot shook her head. “I don’t agree with that.”

“Then you’re wrong.”

A moment of sticky silence between them. Peridot didn’t know what to say. This was brand new territory for her.

After another moment of silence, Lapis huffed and continued. “I know that we were bad for each other, and being together was terrible, but I did love her, and I miss the way things were between us when they were good.”

Peridot _really_ didn’t know where to go from here. She could kind of understand what Lapis was saying, but she had no idea what could help her friend feel better.

“Well… can I help at all?”

“That’s not your job, Peri.”

“I know, but I want to help you feel okay, if I can.”

“… Maybe, let’s just watch cartoons for a bit.”


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw street harrasment

“Sapphy, you are gonna LOVE this place, they serve breakfast all day and the waitresses all wear pajamas, you can order like _anything_ and they’ll make it however you want it, they have a million kinds of hot chocolate, and…”

Ruby was rambling to her amused girlfriend, dragging her down the street on their way to her favorite diner. Ruby was having a great time showing Sapphire where she grew up, and Sapphire loved seeing Ruby so excited. Ruby was leading her by the hand around the block like a puppy pulling at a leash - it was adorable.

Ruby slowed her ramble to a stop and started walking very close to Sapphire. Sapphire searched her face to see if something was wrong. She followed Ruby’s gaze to see a man walking towards them on the sidewalk. This would be nothing out of the ordinary, just a man on his way somewhere in the city, except he was very obviously regarding them with a lewd stare. His eyes flickered to their held hands and his slimy grin spread. Sapphire didn’t need future vision to know what was coming.

“You ladies know that shit is hot, right? Mmm! Keep it up.”

Sapphire did her best to keep her pace steady and her gaze level, as if she hadn’t heard the man. She pulled Ruby along, willing her not to engage.

“Fuck you, man!”

Sapphire sighed hard. _Of course._ She loved her eternal flame baby, but now was _not_ the time to lecture a catcaller.

The man turned to reply, but Sapphire yanked Ruby’s arm and started powerwalking away before Ruby could really tear into the guy. She heard the guy shout from behind them, “I’m down if you are!” and she picked up their pace, listening to his receding laughter to make sure he wasn’t following them.

“Sapph, what was that? I was gonna yell at that guy! He needs to know that it’s not okay to talk to people like that!” Ruby was jogging to keep up with Sapphire, who had not slowed her pace.

“It wouldn’t have worked, Ruby.”

“I still should have tried! We just did nothing! He basically just harassed us and got away with it! He probably thinks it was a funny joke!”

Sapphire shook her head gently, slowing down as they approached a brightly-colored diner. She silently gestured for Ruby to lead the way. Ruby huffed something under her breath and trudged towards the restaurant.

The girls silently walked into the tiny diner, which was packed full of kitschy odds-and-ends. There were novelty license plates on the walls and embroidered pillows with phrases like “coffee time all the time” on the booths. The furniture was all mismatched and from the ceiling hung cactus-shaped string lights. It was as if someone blindfolded a drunk person and asked them to decorate a living room. It was overwhelmingly charming.

A waitress in pizza-themed pjs led the couple to a booth at the back. Ruby was silently fuming. Sapphire was done waiting for her to boil over.

“Ruby, I can tell you’re still steamed about what happened. Calm down.”

“DON’T tell me to calm down!” Ruby slammed a hand on the table, causing all the clunky novelty silverware to clatter together. Sapphire remained unfazed.

“How are you so calm about this!! You acted like it was nothing!! Am I the only one who’s upset??”

Sapphire rolled her eyes behind her bangs, “Of course I’m upset, Ruby. Can’t you tell I’m seething with rage? I felt very unsafe.” Her level tone made that hard for Ruby to believe.

“Well it doesn’t feel like it.” Ruby huffed. Sapphire looked over the menu, trying not to engage with Ruby who was still muttering under her breath about “…treating me like _I’m_ being ridiculous…”

When she heard a sizzle, she didn’t even need to look up. “Ruby, the table.”

Ruby was startled out of her train of thought by Sapphire’s words, and when she looked down there were indeed two fist-sized scorch marks on the table.

“You’re not as okay with this as you think you are.”

Sapphire did not look up from the menu as she said “I’m. Fine.” But with each word, icicles extended from her body onto the fabric of the booth.

After they had placed their order with the pizza-pajamas waitress, they sat in silence for another minute. By the time their food had arrived, Ruby was practically buzzing. Sapphire knew exactly how this was going to go, she just needed to wait for Ruby to burn herself out. That didn’t stop her from becoming annoyed when Ruby’s fidgeting started to jostle the table.

“You’re shaking the table.”

“Oh, you feel that? I’m kinda surprised you can feel anything at all, to be honest!”

“I didn’t need to feel it, I saw.”

Ruby let out a strangled scream and punched the table, flipping it over entirely. Food flew everywhere and the other patrons went silent. Both girls started talking at the same time.

“You don’t know me, okay? You don’t get to act like you’re above all this!”

“Okay, that’s quite enough. You need to calm down”

They were both cut off by a burly woman coming out of the kitchen and insisting they leave the diner. On the sidewalk in front of the diner, Ruby turned to Sapphire.

“I can’t believe you don’t care.”

Sapphire froze. She had been focusing so much on getting past the encounter with the catcaller that she hadn’t thought about how Ruby must be interpreting her feelings. She turned to face her girlfriend, brushing her bangs out of the way of her good eye.

“I didn’t mean to make you feel like that, I’m so sorry. Just because I couldn’t handle interacting with that man, doesn’t mean I don’t agree with everything you’re saying. I really didn’t feel safe, Ruby.”

Ruby kicked at the ground gently, looking sheepish. “I didn’t think about that. You were just trying to get away from him and not think about it, weren’t you?”

Sapphire nodded quietly, tearing up. “But that doesn’t mean that how you felt about it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry.” She started to sniffle, which caught Ruby’s attention. Her head snapped up and she rushed to wipe Sapphire’s tears.

“Sapphire, nononono this is my fault! You’re right, I just wanted to be mad, I was being stupid.”

Sapphire shook her head “You’re not stupid, Ruby!”

They looked at each other for a second, before saying in unison, “I’m sorry.”

They chuckled, and a few more tears fell from Sapphire’s eyes. Ruby kissed them as they rolled down her cheeks.

“So, how did you like my favorite hometown diner?”

Sapphire felt the tension break and she couldn’t help but crack up laughing. Ruby smiled even wider.

“There’s my laughy Sapphy.”

Sapphire blushed and pretended not to hear that last part. “It’s very silly. I love it.”

Ruby looked at her very seriously. “I love you.”

Sapphire reached over to take her hand and turned them to face home.

“I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally I planned this chapter for much later in the story but I realized I had like 4 lapidot chapters in a row and I thought you might be missing some rupphire, I sure was <3


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short chapter. I'll probably post another later this week.

While everyone spent the holidays with their families, Lapis and Peridot had a makeshift dorm-cooked holiday together. Peridot explained that Islamic holidays don’t follow the Gregorian calendar, but she told Lapis her family’s traditions for New Years, which had passed a month ago. Lapis told Peridot all about her family’s Christmas traditions, both the general Santa Clause spiel and the sillier things.

“I don’t see what’s festive about a pickle on a tree.” Peridot had her arms crossed over her chest in disbelief.

Lapis chuckled, “It doesn’t have to make _sense,_ Peri, it’s just something we do. Every year grandma hangs a pickle ornament on the tree and the first grandchild to find it gets an extra present. Well, we all get a pickle present at the end because she’s a softie, but it’s the principle of the thing.”

The thing they could both relate to was food. Together they gushed about the traditional foods of their respective holidays, and they decided to treat themselves. In the grocery store, they found out that neither of them were any good at cooking for themselves, so on Christmas eve they sat down to a big bowl of kraft mac and cheese. Lapis couldn’t help thinking that somehow it tasted better than any elaborate roast ham eaten at a table full of tense conversation and conservative rhetoric.

Washing her mac and cheese down with a swig of chocolate milk, Lapis marveled at how safe she felt with Peridot. She knew she had a lot of trust to regain with Peridot, but they were making progress.

After dinner, they migrated to the couch. Lapis scoffed at Peridot’s idea of watching a Christmas special, complaining that she’d seen them all a million times, so they decided on more Camp Pining Hearts.

“Lapis, you were dating that girl that was bad to you, right? It wasn’t just friends-that-are-girls?” They had just finished catching Lapis up on the CPH episodes she’d missed.

Lapis’ eyes went distant for a moment, seeing something that Peridot couldn’t see, but she shook herself and answered curtly. “Yeah, it was gay, why?”

Peridot looked down at her hands, which were tangling themselves nervously in the hanging fabric of her hijab. “How, er… How did you know you liked girls?”

Lapis looked at Peridot seriously. “Well, it was always inside me. My favorite characters in tv shows, my favorite singers, my best friends, they were always girls. And there’s… I don’t know how to explain it. Have you ever had a crush, Peridot?”

Peridot shook her head slowly “I don’t think so…”

Lapis looked out the window, thinking for a moment before continuing, “When I have a crush on someone, it’s like… it’s like I’ve swallowed a pearl, or a marble. A crush is smooth and lovely. I feel shiny on the inside.” She paused for a moment, before continuing. “I’ve only ever felt that way about other girls. For the longest time I thought that’s how everyone felt about women. They’re so pretty and wonderful, you didn’t have to be gay to see that.” She laughed at herself quietly. “I had never dated anyone, so I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to feel like to be attracted to _anyone,_ let alone girls versus guys. I had a friend, a few years older than me, who came out when we were both in high school. I felt that shiny, pearly way about her and I thought I just really wanted to be her friend. I asked her the same question you asked me, and she basically told me what I’m telling you right now. It made me realize that maybe, just maybe…” She drifted off. Peridot remained silent.

“We never got together, her and me, because it took me such a long time to come to terms with it. For a while it was just a cloudy ‘maybe’ in my head. But yeah, that’s how I figured it out.”

Peridot nodded. She didn’t say anything, but she thought some of the things Lapis had said sounded familiar. Peridot regarded her houseguest while she looked out the window pensively. _Maybe._


	24. Chapter 24

Everyone came back to the city feeling refreshed, like things were on the right track. Everyone’s individual sessions went very smoothly, mostly involving casual conversations about traveling woes and family antics. At the end of the week, it was time again for superpower show and tell, and everyone was excited to get back to practicing their powers.

The sun had just finished setting, and soon the only light in the room would be from the fluorescent lights hanging above them. Rose’s flower beds near the window were empty, save a few stubborn but bare rose plants. Thorny stems with no flowers.

“Okay, girls, today I want to focus on interactions with Peridot. Pearl is a few blocks away, and on my cue she will text something different to each of you. I want you to try to prevent Peridot from hearing it, using your powers.” Rose stood back at her desk and pulled out her phone, typing away. The girls all formed a circle around Peridot.

“Don’t feel too bad when you all lose, my power is just superior.” Peridot jeered, taking a moment to push her glasses further up her nose. Ruby and Amethyst laughed, jeering back.

“Yeah, yeah, put your money where your mouth is.” Amethyst rolled her neck.

“Oh, bring it on!” Ruby cracked her knuckles. Sapphire’s catlike grin agreed with them. Lapis just raised her eyebrows.

Rose’s voice cued the beginning of the game. “Okay she’ll be sending Ruby’s… now!” On the doctor’s cue, a wall of fire leapt up around Ruby. She felt her phone buzz in her pocket, and after a second of silence from the other side of the flames, she thought she had Peridot beat.

But then, “It says ‘gauntlets’!”

The flames flickered out as Ruby checked her phone. “Dammit!”

“I’m cueing her to send Sapphire’s next. Ready… now!” In a split second, Sapphire Saw that she would inevitably lose and Peridot would tell everyone that Pearl had texted her the word “geode”. _Ah, what the hell, I’ll put up a fight._ Sapphire starting waving her hands around, generating a dense network of clouds. Before she lost sight of Peridot through the fog, the girl shouted the code word. Ruby helped burn off some of the cloudbank before they continued.

“Amethyst is next. Ready, go!”

Amethyst, holding her phone, stretched her two hands into the shape of two ice cream scoops. She clapped them together and started wrapping her now long, noodly arms around them, so that her phone was entirely encased in Amethyst-ness.

“It says ‘whip’!” Peridot starting giggling with glee, having won out over her peers’ powers.

“Clever idea, Amethyst! Okay, last is Lapis… now!”

Peridot scrunched her face, closing her eyes to concentrate. She couldn’t even hear Lapis’ phone, not even the low-lying frequency of a phone that’s turned off. “What the-?” She opened her eyes and looked to her left to see Lapis holding her phone suspended in a bubble of water, about six inches from her face, smirking.

“Wha! Rrrg, that doesn’t count! Right, doctor?” She turned to see Rose chuckling quietly.

“She did prevent you from reading the message, Peridot.” Rose smiled and shrugged. She texted Pearl to come back to the office before setting her phone down on the desk.

“But, but she just shorted out her phone’s circuits!! That’s cheating!”

Peridot blanched at Lapis, who also shrugged. Ruby was cackling, and Sapphire looked quietly impressed.

“Dude, your phone though” Amethyst pointed at the bubble.

“I can just pull all the water out myself, and it’ll turn right back on. It’s the whole bowl of rice concept … but with magic instead of rice.”

“Clever thinking, Lapis.”

Lapis made thoughtful eye contact with Sapphire, unsure how to accept the compliment. To break the awkwardness of the moment, she started to fiddle with her phone. Soon enough, it powered back on.

Peridot slumped over to stand beside Lapis. “What did it say?”

Lapis, not looking up from her phone, smiled softly. “Wings.”

Rose walked back towards the center of the room. “I think we can declare Lapis the winner of that game. Next, let’s focus on her power and its interactions.”

Peridot was about to launch into one final counter argument when Pearl, looking harried, popped into the room.

“Rose- uhm, Doctor Quartz? Greg is on the phone. It’s, uh, it’s urgent.”

Rose’s smile fell, and she crossed the room to follow Pearl. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to make this quick.” The door closed behind her with finality.

“Rue, do you know what’s going on?” Amethyst jerked her thumb towards the door where the doctor had just exited. Her voice lacked all of its usual joviality.

Ruby shook her head. Sapphire, next to her, chimed in with “Oh, I’ve seen this already. I can’t see what’s wrong, exactly, but it’s not good. I think it’s about Steven.”

A sickening moment of silence stretched across the room.

Lapis, who was beside Peridot, nudged her gently. “Can you listen in?”

Peridot closed her eyes and cocked her head. “Hm, I think they’re talking on the landline, but I can try to get into Pearl’s earpiece. She’d get looped into the conversation, but at least we could hear them.”

“Do it, P-dot!” Amethyst and the others huddled closer to Peridot, who closed her eyes and clenched her fists.

“Greg is saying that he’s gone. Someone came and took Steven.” A few of them gasped. “Greg was working outside for a while and when he came back into the house the lock had been… shot? The door had been forced open and Steven was nowhere.”

“Oh, my god.”

“Now, it’s the doctor speaking. She’s saying it has to be them. I don’t know who ‘them’ is but she’s convinced they took him. Oh, drat, Pearl shut off her earpiece.” Peridot opened her eyes, bewildered. “Sorry, that’s all I can get.”

Ruby turned around and punched one of the armchairs. “What the _fuck?!”_

Sapphire and Lapis both stood stock still, the picture of shock.

“Well, we gotta do something, right??” Amethyst looked around at the group. “We gotta help her, we gotta get him back!”

Before anyone could answer her, Rose reentered the room, eyes shining. She walked silently to her desk and sat, ignoring everyone in favor of staring at the framed photos on her desk.

Pearl had followed her into the room, closing the door behind her and leaning against the wall.

After a moment of silence, without prompting, Rose spoke. “I assume you heard that?”

Peridot made a noncommittal noise, but Amethyst cut her off. “Doc, who took Steven?? What’s going on??”

Rose sighed, and then looked up at the group of girls in front of her. “I’ll tell you, if you promise to try not to think less of me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out it follows the plot of the bright sessions season 1 pretty closely so spoiler alert if you haven't listened and want to.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, big spoiler alert for season 1 of TBS

“I was an executive officer for a research group called the Diamond Atypical Authority. They are an independent organization dedicated to studying and understanding atypicals, and sometimes containing them if they prove too dangerous. I was taken there as soon as my powers started to develop when I was very young – as you can imagine, my power in the wrong hands could be a disaster. Control over living things, it’s almost all-encompassing. Technically, I could have anything I want from anyone at all. I could shape the world into whatever image I please. I choose not to, because I see that it would be wrong.

They treated me better at the DAA than they had at the orphanage where I was raised, so I didn’t mind the change. After a while, they started to trust me, and they began to see me as an asset. One of the Diamonds, a member of the family that founded the institution, personally mentored me in my power so I could control myself. I grew up in the facility, and it wasn’t the most interesting place but I got a good education, and I knew I wanted to go to college. I studied psychology and got my doctorate. I met Pearl and Greg. After I graduated, I was ready to start a new chapter of my life. But the DAA, they had their claws in me, in a way I hadn’t anticipated.

Apparently, from the moment they spirited me away, I had become company property. I had no choice but to come back to the DAA after school and begin my career there. At first, I thought it wouldn’t have been too bad. But something in my Diamond’s mind had curdled while I was away. Or maybe things at the DAA were always like this, and I never noticed until I had gotten away for a while, until I had a baseline for comparison.

They were conducting experiments on atypicals. Not like the ones we do here, either. Nonconsensual experiments. Drug trials. Dangerous equipment testing. They had built a whole new wing of high-security containment cells, and they were full to the brim with atypicals of all ages and powers who were being held against their will. They still are, apparently.

I thought if I could appeal to my Diamond, I could convince her that it was wrong, but she wouldn’t hear me. No one in the Diamond family is an atypical themself, you see, and they were strongly prejudiced. According to them, atypicals are dangerous criminals, looking to use their power to get ahead by any means necessary. I was the only exception to the rule because they had _acquired_ me at an early age. She pontificated about the ‘greater good’. They really thought that all of the pain they were causing was justified, because with their research, they could build weapons to defend humanity against atypicals. It was fearful, reactionary, prejudiced thinking. I lashed out at them, I threw a fit and demanded to be released from my contract, threatening them with the police, the FBI, the president, anybody.

But they were too big to fail. They operate outside of the government, so there was no one to report them to. Imagine trying to tell a police officer that there was a secret agency illegally detaining people with superpowers in an underground bunker. Trust me, that goes about as well as you’d imagine. Anyone that I talked to about it either laughed it off as impossible or expressed agreement with the ethical decision of the Diamond family. The latter being even more terrifying. I realized quickly that exposing atypicals to the public may just bring the DAA to a new level, backed by governmental and popular support. I had to find my own small subterfuge.

I petitioned a leave of absence. Luckily, around this time, I was getting married and thinking about children, so no one questioned it. After I had Steven, my Diamond contacted me, expecting me to resume my post. I told her that I would be more comfortable as a recruiter, that it would mesh better with my new lifestyle as a wife and a mother. Again, that went mostly unquestioned.

So, I set up shop here. According to the DAA, my duty is to investigate young atypicals and report back about their developments. Anyone who displays signs of instability or poses a threat to the general public, I would be contractually obligated to… to bring them in.”

Peridot started to back away from Rose’s desk, eyes flickering to where Pearl was leaning against the door, incidentally blocking the exit.

“Calm down, Peridot, dear. I have no intention of _ever_ turning someone over to the DAA. I would rather exercise my power and physically restrain them myself than deliver someone to those sharks, even if they really did present a danger to themselves or others. In fact, in my time as a ‘recruiter’ I have failed to recruit a single atypical who is ‘suitable for experimentation’.

That’s how I’ve been operating since Steven was born. I help young atypicals adjust to their powers, and I do what I can to undermine the DAA in small ways, without bringing the existence of atypicals to light. Recently, the eldest Diamond passed away. Since then, the DAA’s in-building population has been slowly falling. Hopefully, they will stop experimentation altogether as members of the Diamond family die off or lose interest in the project. At this point, I don’t see a better solution than to keep on as I have been.

That is, until, they took my son. I’m sure it was them. They’re terrified of the idea of a child being able to wield my power – some atypical powers are transferred genetically, and they wouldn’t be taking any chances with something as huge as complete organic control.

I can’t reason with them to get him back. I can’t appeal to a higher power. If I want him, I have to go get him, and I can’t imagine taking on the brunt of the DAA alone.”

She sighed, defeated. Her eyes had not left the framed picture of her holding baby Steven.

“You wouldn’t be alone.” Ruby stepped forward. “C’mon, we can do the Dumbledore’s army thing! Together.” She stood firmly, with Amethyst nodding beside her. Lapis, from behind Peridot, nudged her forward to fall in line with Ruby, and then stepped up herself.

Sapphire found herself standing in front of the doctor’s desk, across from a woman who looked mostly like Dr. Quartz. This woman was not the radiant beacon of hope that Sapphire had come to know. She seemed paler, smaller, empty.

The almost-Dr. Quartz spoke with a rasp. “I’m so sorry to pull you into this. You shouldn’t feel obligated to help me. I know it’s a lot to ask – too much, actually.”

“No, we want to help, Dr. Quartz. We’ll do everything we can.” Sapphire leaned a hand on the doctor’s desk, and everyone behind her chimed in, agreeing.

“It’ll be dangerous. I can’t guarantee your safety. Or anyone’s, to be completely honest. I’m… I’m out of my depth.” She looked like she would break if a strong wind blew.

“We all are, doctor. Almost all the time. We’ll get him back, okay?” Sapphire shivered a bit, remembering having a vision of this very exchange what felt like ages ago.

Pearl walked up to the desk, falling into line with the other girls, and nodded silently. Rose’s eyes brimmed with fresh tears.

From beside Sapphire, Peridot squeaked, “But how?”


	26. Chapter 26

“Fall in, ladies. Here’s the plan.” Like an army general, Pearl stood authoritatively behind the doctor’s desk, which was covered in maps and schematics. Pearl had spent the whole week constructing a plan of attack, using information gleaned from Rose’s familiarity with the building and some hacking on her own part.

The doctor was sitting quietly behind her. With bags under her eyes and a smile completely absent from her face, she looked like an aging monarch, relying on her right-hand knight.

“The Diamond Atypical Authority headquarters is far underground, hidden under an unmarked warehouse on the outskirts of town. The facility is only accessible via the main elevator.” Pearl handed out copies of the floorplan for everyone to study. “Amethyst will assume the likeness of Doctor Quartz, and will be responsible for getting you into the building. You’ll be entering under the guise of a previous Diamond official bringing in some dangerous atypicals that need containment. We can’t guarantee that you won’t be … neutralized, in some way… as soon as you arrive, but-“

Sapphire cut in “That’s very unlikely.” Pearl prompted her for more information, but Sapphire just shrugged. “I don’t have logic to back that up, I’m literally just saying that out of all the possible futures I can see, there are very few that involve us getting sedated or killed on sight.”

“Oh, good” Amethyst muttered sarcastically.

“What exactly are the chances of that?” Peridot inquired urgently, at the same time.

Rose spoke over all of the worried voices “I will do my best to keep you safe. If we need to abort the mission, we abort. If someone is in danger, they become the first priority. Steven… he is my loss to bear, but if any of you got hurt doing this favor for me, I’d never forgive myself. I would even bend wills to keep you all safe if it comes down to it.”

Pearl nodded, admiration obvious in her eyes. Rose had such a natural tendency for leadership. The girls standing on the other side of the desk looked mostly reassured. At this point, no one was planning on backing out.

Ruby raised a timid hand, waiting to be acknowledged before speaking. “Do you think it would help if Q – well, Amethyst – told them she’s using her power to keep us in check? The DAA knows about your power over living things, right? I feel like that’d be more believable than just four atypicals that chose to come quietly.”

Rose’s smile was the largest she’d managed in weeks, “Brilliant, Ruby. They won’t suspect anything subversive from you if they think I’m controlling your movements.”

“Sapphire, you’re going to be the lookout for the group. Keep one eye on the future; in case something goes wrong, you’ll need to be thinking on your feet.” Pearl addressed the psychic. Sapphire nodded curtly.

Next, Pearl made eye contact with Peridot. “What’s your range?”

Peridot made a noncommittal noise, but Rose cut in before she could quantify: “I’ve seen her maintain contact with a unit that’s at least 500 feet away.”

Pearl’s eyebrows shot up, impressed.

“Well, eh, that’s true, but I was just listening. If you need me to interfere, I almost always have to be in contact.” She used the hanging fabric of her hijab to clean her yellow glasses, nervous under the heavy gaze of… well, everyone.

After a moment, Pearl erased something she’d written on the floorplan in front of her. “Okay, so Peridot definitely has to get to the security hub… somehow. Otherwise, they’ll be no way to deactivate the protective field around the containment units, where they’re keeping Steven.”

Ruby nervously asked, “What do you mean, ‘somehow’?”

“Well, if you don’t get caught, it should be easy. If something goes wrong and security catches on before you make it to the hub, well, you’ll need all the muscle you can get.”

Lapis huffed and pointed to the map of the building. “There are like a million different cells in all these containment units, how are we gonna figure out where Steven is?”

“That’s the tricky part” Pearl said. She nodded to Rose, who stood.

“I’ll give you fifteen minutes after you enter. Then, I’m going to go in through the main elevator. Once they see me enter fifteen minutes after myself, they’ll know they’ve been duped somehow. Security will be hot on your heels. I’ll … encourage the main door security guards to search for Steven in the computer system, and I’ll type which unit he’s in on this phone. Remember that conditional mind-reading we worked on with Sapphire and Peridot? I won’t be able to send the message, because we’ll be so far underground, so Peridot you’ll need to be listening for me and planning on saying it aloud to Sapphire. That way, as soon as I know where he is, you’ll know. It’ll save us some time. Amethyst, when Peridot and Sapphire figure out where Steven is being held, you can take on your natural form again – they’ll know there’s two Rose Quartzes running around by that point.”

Pearl resumed the narrative, pointing out spots on the maps and diagrams as she went. “The timing is the difficult thing. Theoretically, you all should have been able to get to the security hub by this time without having been discovered. There are three security checkpoints, here, here and here. They get more intensive as they go on, so be wary … ” and so the briefing continued. No detail was too small; she described security camera locations, passcodes, hallways with and without emergency exits. Pearl had everyone individually recite the entire plan back to her, and with a final nod from the doctor, they were ready.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey pals, I've been traveling and my connection has been spotty. Updates might not be so regular from here on out. I'll try my best <3

They waited until dark before all piling into Greg’s van. Pearl drove, keeping negative comments about the van mostly to herself. Mostly. They drove in relative silence, with Rose shotgun, and Sapphire, Ruby, Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot piled in the back. Pearl navigated down winding roads with minimal streetlights, meant to confuse and disorient. The warehouse that hid the DAA was not far outside the city, closer to the shore.

They turned onto a dark, mostly empty road and Pearl killed the headlights. She stopped the car once the warehouse came into sight. “If I get much closer, we’ll be caught before we’ve started. You’ll walk from here.” She threw the car in park, but made no move to cut the engine.

The girls started to climb out of the back. Rose got out of the van, leaving the door open behind her. She surveyed her team. Four strong young women and one virtually indistinguishable reflection of herself -- with a strong young woman buried inside.

“I remind you: my top priority in this mission is your safety. I’m so thankful to all of you for helping me with this. It will be dangerous.”

“Doc, we know. We’re here, okay? We’re doing this.” Ruby cut her off with a smile. The others nodded, united.

Rose, smiling proudly, opened her arms to hug them all. She sent them on her way, whispering “good luck”s. After they mostly disappeared into the shadows around the building, she sat back down in the passenger seat. She and Pearl sat silently in the warmth of the car for a few minutes.

“I think they’ll succeed. They operate very well as a team. Especially Sapphire and Ruby, the way they move together, it’s like they’re together in one head.”

Pearl nervously thumbed at the wheel. “I wish I could be of more help.”

“Pearl, darling, no one in my life has helped me more than you. You’ve been at my side from the start, whenever I needed you. This is strictly a job for an atypical, and still here you are, ready to drive the getaway car.” Rose leaned across the console to hug her best friend. “Thank you, really.”

Pearl hugged back, swiping tears from her eyes discretely. They settled back into their seats, but their hands remained clasped.

“Well, I think it’s about time I started catching up to them. I’ll see you soon, Pearl.” She gave Pearl’s hand a final squeeze before slipping out of the van and into the night.

* * *

 

Amethyst was shaking. Performing as Rose Quartz, well, those were big shoes to fill. Literally. Rose was tall, and Amethyst stretching out her mass for so long was straining her powers and her nerves.

_Oh, shit, the last security checkpoint._

The group had made it through the first one easily – “Quartz, you back? Must have been one helluva maternity leave. Well, good to see ya!” – but the second one had gotten sticky. The guard knew about Rose’s … unpleasant departure from the company. Personally, apparently.

“Well, look who’s come crawling back. Last time I seen you, Dr. Quartz, you were running your mouth about how _evil_ we all are for the work we do here. What’s got into you now, huh?”

“I—uh. I see now, that the work here is… a necessary evil. Not all atypicals can be trusted in the public. I know I may not have left on the best of terms --“ At this, the guard coughed up a dry, angry laugh. “But these very dangerous atypicals that I’ve restrained have reminded me why we do our job.” Amethyst suppressed a heavy sigh, proud of herself for completing the monologue without faltering -- or swearing. The other four girls were doing their best to look completely passive, looking straight ahead and walking only when Amethyst walked. This second guard was skeptical, but Rose’s company ID meant that it didn’t really matter whether he believed it or not.

But here they were coming up to the third checkpoint. It was supposedly the most thorough, and Amethyst was losing her grip on this form.

“Just taking these patients to the corrective wing. Don’t worry, I have them all completely under my control.” She had said those exact words about a million times in practice, and twice since she entered the facility. They had mostly lost their meaning: all muscle memory.

“Okay, Quartz. Hold still, just gotta scan you for your atypical output signature.” The security guard had the inflection of a grocery checkout clerk, as if this was all routine, but Amethyst felt her stomach drop. She was pretty sure that gadget he was holding that measured “atypical output signatures” was not something they’d been briefed about, and not something she could shapeshift past. Peridot tensing up beside her confirmed her worries. _We’re caught._

The security guard looked down at the machine, which started beeping fast and loud. He looked back up at Amethyst. There was an accusation in his eyes as his mouth opened to shout. Instead, he got a mouth full of snow. Sapphire jumped in front of Amethyst and put each of her hands on the man’s temples, letting ice splinter out from her fingers until his entire head was encased with ice. He dropped to the floor, and the hallway fell silent. Amethyst, still wearing Rose’s form looked bewildered and impressed. Ruby and the others looked mostly scared. After a few seconds of silence, Sapphire turned to the group and shrugged.

“What?”

Lapis was the first to recover. “You just iced that guy!!”

Another shrug “Did you guys think we were gonna do this by smiling pretty and shaking hands? This is a heist. We’re here to take Steven and get out. Time to take off the kid gloves, ladies.”

Amethyst shifted back to her own form with a sigh. “Well, if we’re caught, we’re caught. Might as well get comfy.”

In that moment, a premonition struck Sapphire. She closed her eyes to listen, and she heard Peridot’s voice from 5 minutes in the future: _“Oh! I hear the doctor typing. Steven is being kept in the alpha wing.”_

Returning to the present, she announced to the group, “Steven is in the alpha wing!”

Peridot piped up “We have to get to the security hub and then back to the rendezvous point.”

The group ran down the long hallway, at the end of which stood an imposing steel door.

Sapphire closed her eyes. “There’s gonna be a small security detail on the other side of this door. It’s… hard... to see… I think it’s 5 guards? They have… I can’t tell what kind of weapon it is. A Taser?” She inhaled sharply and looked at Ruby. “We’re going to be hit, us two.”

Ruby gulped “You sure?”

“No, but it’s likely.” They joined hands. They had long passed the point of no return.

Lapis balled her hands into fists. “Not if we can help it. How do we get through this door? Peridot, can you like hack the door or something?”

Small fingers pressed into yellow-tinted eyelids. “I can’t hear it at all. I think” She looked up at the door, surprised. “I think it’s just a regular lock. Like, we need the key.”

Ruby groaned. “What kind of high-tech government facility uses physical keys? Isn’t this place supposed to be like a spaceship or something?”

“Dudes, I got this” Amethyst pressed a fingertip against the lock. A shimmering light, and her finger shapeshifted into the shape of a key’s teeth. She felt around inside the lock for a moment, before a click indicated the tumblers had been aligned. The door was unlocked, they just had to open it.

Amethyst looked directly at Ruby with a smirk: “Black girl magic, amirite?” Ruby’s face lit up, figuratively, and her hands lit up, literally, as she barked out a laugh. Magic was certainly one word for it.

Amethyst yanked the door, hard, and Ruby went in, hands blazing. Sapphire followed closely, dodging around Ruby to get in close with one of the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 security guards. Her knuckles, reinforced with icicles on each knuckle, collided with one of their faces, and with a grunt, she pushed icicles further into his skin. _One down._

With a look over her shoulder, she saw Lapis holding two guards in a self-contained bubble of water, her face strained with concentration. Amethyst was trying to wrestle with one, having shapeshifted to match his height. One guard seemed to be retreating, maybe to call for back-up. Peridot squinted at him briefly, and the man collapsed, clutching his skull and whimpering. _She got into his earpiece! Genius!_

That left one. Sapphire ran to Ruby’s side, who was launching fireballs at the last guard. Unfortunately, it seemed that pyrokinesis was the only power they _were_ prepared to deal with here at the DAA; his uniform was completely fireproof. Sapphire saw her girlfriend getting more and more frustrated. Peridot yelped when she saw him pull out a weapon and aim it at the pair, but she couldn’t hear it. Whatever it was, it didn’t have a computer chip in it – there was nothing she could do. Amethyst and Lapis were still caught up in their own battles. There was nothing _anyone_ could do.

The last thing any of them saw was a flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just so yall know I have like four more chapters written for this story and then some like time-jump stuff. I'm excited for you all to read it!


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! sorry for the delayed update, and thank you for sticking around! I love reading all your comments

Amethyst knocked out the guard she’d been struggling against and turned just in time to see Ruby and Sapphire get hit with… well, something. And it didn’t look good. She was temporarily blinded by the flash of light, and then everything was quiet. Her vision was spotty, but she could see all of the guards knocked out on the floor, including the one who’d just discharged the weapon. _Killer recoil, huh?_

She ran to where Sapphire and Ruby had fallen, and in their place was… not them. They had turned into an amalgamation of limbs, red and blue splashed together into the vague shape of a very large person. It was… blurry to look at, almost like it was poorly photoshopped into the picture of the world in front of her. A splash of watercolor in an oil painting. She turned to her friends. Lapis was shaking, maybe with fear, maybe with exhaustion. Peridot looked a little green, like she might hurl.

A heaving inhale. A shuddered exhale. The thing on the ground started to pull itself up to sitting. It looked up. Three eyes met two. Amethyst gasped.

Behind her, Lapis hissed to Peridot, “What the hell happened to Ruby and Sapphire?” Peridot couldn’t tear her eyes from the newest occupant of the room, gaze brimming with fear and distrust.

A new voice rang through the room. “We’re right here. We’re both… in here? Together? No, that’s not quite right.” The giant woman looked down at her two shaking hands. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, as if she expected to see something different when she opened them again.

Peridot, having regained her wits, began screeching. “Okay, whatever is going on here, we don’t have time for this! We need to get to the security hub, deactivate the network, and make the rendezvous with Dr. Quartz!” She looked directly at the newcomer. “Can you walk?”

A short nod. She teetered herself to her feet, partially leaning on the wall. Standing straight up, she could have touched the ceiling. She had to be at least 8 feet tall. Taking a deep breath, she took a few confident steps. She looked like had gotten the hang of this strange new form.

Then she fell.

Peridot groaned, “We have to keep going!” She ran over to the collapsed form of the last guard, trying to get a look at the weapon that had poofed Ruby and Sapphire into... someone new.

“We can’t just leave her here! She’s Ruby and Sapphire!” Amethyst shot back.

“No, I’m not. I’m... I’m someone, but I don’t know who.” She was still breathing heavily.

Lapis rolled her eyes “I’ll carry her, let’s just get moving!” She extended her arms, from which a tidal wave surged up under the conglomerate person, buoying her up off the ground and further down the hallway.

The three friends shared a short nod, running along the remainder of the hall to the room Pearl had indicated on her schematic.

Another tumbler lock. Amethyst picked this one with ease, and they were into the security hub. The walls were lined with screens, live footage of the entire building casting a flickering light around the room. There were six desks with computers and instruments beyond any of their wildest conjecturing.

Peridot rolled her neck before sitting down to the main controls. “Heh. I almost feel sorry for them.” She smirked, closing her eyes and pressing both hands to the computer terminal in front of her. “Alpha, alpha, alpha, hmm…” After about 10 seconds, she started to shake. After about 20, she started to sweat. After about 30, _whummmmmmmm._ Everything went dark.

Amethyst pulled a flashlight out of her pocket. “Alright. Let’s go find the doc.”

* * *

Rose stood in front of the now unarmed door to unit alpha, looking ghostly in the emergency auxiliary lights. She heard the sound of stampeding feet, as well as… rushing water? She turned to see Lapis, Peridot, and Amethyst turn the corner, followed by a large figure who was deposited on the ground by a receding tidal wave.

“Who-“

“It’s Ruby and Sapphire, doc! Well, not really. I don’t know! One of the guards zapped them both, and they turned into… well, her!”

Rose peered closely at the giant woman. There was something off about her. When Rose looked at any living thing, she could feel their presence, hear their molecules singing. Lapis felt cool, like a concrete wall. Amethyst felt malleable, like the inside of a soft pretzel. This new woman felt like… static. Nothing.

“Are you… okay? How do you feel?”

The newcomer, hunched on the ground, looked up at Rose. “How do _I_ feel? I feel… lost. Scared. And… and. And happy.” She looked surprised, like the words coming out of her mouth were forming themselves without her control.

Rose looked at Peridot. “Did you get a read on the weapon they were hit with?”

Peridot, wringing her hands, shook her head. “I couldn’t hear it at all. It was purely mechanical, no computerized control system. But I did bring it with us.” She produced a small, metal tool that looked a bit like a tuning fork.

Rose took it in her hands, gaping. “I’ve seen this before. It’s an atypical destabilizer. It’s meant to temporarily incapacitate an atypical’s powers through a binding process – it’s like a net for their powers. It’s never been tested on two atypicals together, though.”

“So I’m Ruby and Sapphire bound together?” She felt a little bit of a rush at that. She could feel the love that Ruby and Sapphire had for each other, mirroring back on itself infinitely. As long as the two of them were together, she felt like she could do anything.

“Dear, I think you are something entirely new. A fusion, if you will.”

She stood, still shaky, but getting stronger. Grinning, she stretched her arms upwards, rolling out all of her new muscles. “Oh, I like this.” Everyone watched, enraptured, as the giant woman lifted her two hands. One tinged red and one tinged blue, she held them so her palms were facing each other. _ZZT._ A shock passed between them, like a lightning bolt. The light reflected in her eyes, illuminating one red, one purple, and one blue iris.

“You did say, ‘temporarily’, right?” Amethyst asked quietly. As if on cue, the tall woman started to glow. A bright flash of white. One second, there was the tall, mismatched fusion. The next, there were two very dazed girls lying flat on their backs.

“What-?”

“How-?”

The pair groaned.

Rose came to crouch next to them. “Are you okay?”

Ruby sat up and nodded, grimacing slightly. “That was… weird.”

“I’ve never had more than one eye... It was nice” said Sapphire, still laying on her back, looking dumbstruck. Ruby looked at her and smiled warmly.

“I’ll have Pearl do a full analysis once we’re out, but as of right now, I think we’d better get going.”

Everyone nodded, snapping back to business, and followed Rose into the newly disarmed alpha unit of cells.

Rose seemed to know exactly which way she was going, down winding hallways and through back corridors. After climbing down what looked like an emergency escape ladder through a narrow shaft, they dropped down into a large chamber. The gang lined up to face a wall of containment units that stretched up for stories and stories. Cells upon cells in every direction.

“Holy shit, it’s like the alien prison from Lilo and Stitch.” Amethyst muttered to no one in particular.

“All of these cells have at some point housed an atypical who was being used as an experimental guinea pig.” Rose spat the words like every second they spent on her tongue was painful.

The silence hung in the air for a moment. Sapphire was the first to speak.

“Where is he, doctor?”

“715”

In unison the group craned their necks back. Squinting, they could see the cell numbers shining in the fluorescent emergency lights. Lapis’ eyes slipped shut as she exerted her energy downward, forming a column of water under everyone’s feet that elevated them slowly off the ground. They rose past empty cells until they reached one with a buzzing electric field over the face of the wall. 715.

Through the field that crackled in front of their eyes, they could make out a small shadow. _Steven._

Rose let slip a small sound that belied the strong, smooth façade she had been maintaining. There were tears in her eyes.

“I… I expected the individual shields to come down with the unit shields…” She reached her fingers towards him wistfully, but jerked her hand back upon contact with the field like it had burned her. “I don’t know how to get past this.”

Sapphire exhaled sharply like she’d been punched in the gut “I do.” She looked at Ruby “It all makes sense. I’ve been having visions all my life but every once in a while I get one that I can tell isn’t mine. I’m not looking through my eyes. I’m looking through hers. We have to be Garnet again.” Ruby’s eyes widened, but she took Sapphire’s hand.

“Garnet?” Peridot, true to form, was not following.

“That’s her name. When Ruby and I… fuse? I guess? We’re together, but she’s more than the sum of our parts. She’s Garnet.”

Ruby nodded “Yeah, I just know it.” She squared her shoulders towards the doctor. “Hit us, Q.”

“Girls, the ramifications of using experimental technology without-“

“Doctor!” Sapphire interrupted, “I am looking at the possible futures and this is the only one that gives us a shot. Hit. Us.”

The doctor held the destabilizer in her hand. After a moment of hesitation, Amethyst rolled her eyes. She grabbed the tool out of Rose’s grip and zapped her friends, squinting her eyes against the blast. She was thrown back from the force of the instrument, and she fell to the ground below.

After everyone had shaken the stars from their eyes, Peridot called down to Amethyst. “Hey, are you okay?!” After a beat, they heard a groan.

“Shit, that thing packs a punch. Yeah, I’m good! Do what you gotta do!”

Another groan from behind them. The giant woman shook her head and stood. It seemed like the transition was affecting her much less than the first time. Rose looked up at her with hope in her eyes, hope that had been absent for a long time.

A large hand reached towards the electric field, hesitating slowly, before slipping right through it. There was no sizzle of burning skin or electric discharge like there was when Rose touched the field on accident. Peridot gasped. “How are you doing this?”

Rose made eye contact with Garnet. “She’s not organic. I can tell with my power, I can’t feel her at all.”

She shrugged. “If Ruby is fire and Sapphire is ice, I must be electric.” She stepped through the field into the cell, bowing her head to fit. She seemed to be absorbing the field, so wherever her body stood, the field stopped. Around her form, a small bundle could be seen lying on the floor.

“Oh, Steven!” Rose rushed through the gap in the field to scoop up her son. She kneeled down, holding him close to her chest, body shuddering. Lapis leaned on Peridot’s shoulder, straining under the effort of holding the water up to Steven’s cell, but smiling still. Peridot tried to wipe away a tear under the pretense of fixing her glasses.

“Doctor, I hate to rush you, but if we stay much longer there will be reinforcements coming.” The fusion was starting to blur around the edges, like she was losing her hold on herself.

“Yes, yes, of course.” Rose, still holding baby Steven close to her chest, clambered to her feet and out onto the steady column of water. The fusion sagged a bit as she stepped out of the electric field. Everyone remained quiet, watching Rose run her fingers through Steven’s short, curly hair, as the water column fell slowly. Soon, they were standing back on the ground with Amethyst.

“Hey, lil Ste-man! Let’s get outta here, huh?” Amethyst bounded up to the doctor, already reveling in their success. She was waving the destabilizer around wildly until the fusion carefully took it from her and stowed it in a pocket.

Rose, carrying Steven, led the other four back the way they had come towards the main elevator. They burst through the door to the alpha unit only to be met with the sound of boots running towards them.

“ _Shit”_


	29. Chapter 29

A security detail of ten guards rounded a corner and started running towards them, weapons raised.

“ _Shit”_ Amethyst took stock of the approaching force. It looked like the guys from their little skirmish had revived themselves and geared up, specifically remembering all of the powers that had overcome them last time. They had magnetic boots, riot gear, breathing packs, everything they would need to overpower a group of elemental atypicals. She would bet that none of them were wearing earpieces this time, either.

_Great, we showed them our whole hand._

From down the hall, they started to fire. With a sweep of her arm, Rose threw everyone against the wall and out of the spray of bullets. Only she and the fusion remained in the open. They both looked surprised that Rose’s power hadn’t thrown Garnet along with the others. Rose recovered quickly, speaking urgently. “Take Steven up with you. Get the others to safety.” Steven passed from the hands of one giant woman to the other, and Rose turned back to the security detail in front of her. She raised both hands, screwing her eyes shut, and the guards all slowed down, like they were running through molasses. Rose started breathing heavily. “GO!”

With Steven in hand, Garnet started running. She looked briefly to see Peridot and Lapis trailing close behind her, but Amethyst hadn’t moved. She was looking at Rose with watery eyes.

“Amethyst, come on!”

“I’m not leaving Doctor Quartz!”

Rose was now physically heaving for each breath, her shaking arms still outstretched towards the oncoming guards. “Amethyst, go. I’ll be right behind you.” She made brief eye contact, before closing her eyes again and furrowing her brow. The guards had almost stopped entirely, against their own will. Amethyst stomped her foot like an insolent child, wiping away a single tear with her fist.

“You’d better!” she shouted and turned to run after the rest of the group, leaving Rose alone at the end of the corridor.

They wound through the hallways, half relying on memory, half relying on Sapphire’s future vision – well, Garnet’s future vision. At the end of a long hallway, they could see the main atrium, where they would find the elevator to the top.

Amethyst stopped short just after entering the room, falling behind the rest of the group. “We have to wait for the doc!” Lapis trailed behind Peridot while she laid her hands on the elevator control panel, paying Amethyst no mind.

The fusion crouched down to get on Amethyst’s eye level. “I know how terrible it seems that we’re leaving her back there to fend for herself. Trust me, Amethyst, I can feel Ruby inside me _screaming_ to go back and help her. But the doctor needs us to get Steven to safety, and the longer we spend down here, the slimmer his chances are getting.” They both looked down at baby Steven, who seemed completely unaware of the direness of the situation.

“You have Sapphire’s power, right? Is she… is she gonna be okay?”

Garnet looked down at the ground. “I really don’t know. But we have to go.” They both looked sharply at the hallway on the opposite side of the room where they could hear footfalls coming closer.

“Now.”

She stood, holding Steven in one giant hand and pulling Amethyst with the other. “Peridot, you’ve got to get that thing going right now!” Peridot’s eyes shot open, and so did the elevator door. They all poured into the sterile elevator car, waiting for the glass door to slide shut before they could escape. The elevator slowly started to rise just as another squad of armed guards trotted through the atrium, around the corner and down the hall they had come from, towards Rose. They were _heavily_ armed – one of their weapons was so big they had it propped on the shoulders of four guards, running in formation. An imposing woman with austere features followed the troops. Her smart pink business suit stood in stark contrast to the riot gear of the security guards. She walked with the air of someone who owned the place.

Amethyst pressed her hands against the glass, but soon the view was cut off as they ascended.

“We can’t just leave her.” She was fighting back tears.

“We didn’t have a choice, Amethyst.” The fusion put a hand on Amethyst’s shoulder, but it was quickly shrugged off. Lapis and Peridot looked at the ground, saying nothing. After a few seconds in the elevator, they heard a siren start to wail from below them. The group huddled closer together as the ground shuddered. Amethyst choked out a sob.

The elevator doors opened onto the ground level and they piled out of it. Running away from the nondescript building, they saw the van where Pearl had been parked. The car was still running.

The group couldn’t have been more than 100 yards from the building when the ground shuddered for a few seconds. Peridot and Amethyst both skidded to a halt, looking back over their shoulders. Lapis and Garnet each grabbed one of them by the hand, still running for the van. Another shudder, and Garnet shouted “Faster!”

The rumblings from far underground were getting more intense and more frequent. The fusion threw open the passenger-side door to the van, jumping in.

“Who on Earth—“ Pearl shouted at the newcomer.

“Pearl, not now.”

As soon as the back door swung shut behind Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot, the ground shook again. Crevices spiderwebbed across the ground from the source of the rumbling.

“Where is Rose?!” Pearl’s voice was hysterical.

The building they had just fled creaked and groaned. They all turned to see the warehouse crumpling as the ground below it collapsed. Time seemed to slow down, and the only thing anyone could do was watch. One final, momentous rumble shook the van while the Earth swallowed the façade of a warehouse, indicating the destruction of the Diamond Atypical Authority headquarters.

The thundering sound dissipated, and after a moment of deafening silence, Steven began to cry.


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey pals, sorry for the radio silence. the wifi here is shit. ill post two chapters this week.  
> thanks all for hanging in and keeping reading! as of last chapter i broke the word count required to be considered a novel (40k), which is weird and exciting. never thought id write a novel-length story.

The funeral of Rose Quartz took place on a brisk, sunny morning the following week. Pearl wanted to be annoyed at the good weather, wishing for a rainy day to match her mood, but she couldn’t conjure the feeling. She couldn’t even reach the low-lying simmer of contempt for Greg Universe that she’d cultivated over the years. When she looked across the garden at the faded man, all she saw was her own loss reflected back at her. She would go back to hating him soon. Not today, though. Probably not tomorrow, either.

No, it seemed that the only feeling Pearl had space for was guilt. _I wish I could have taken her place. I should have been there with her. I shouldn’t have fed into her crazy idea about breaking into the DAA. I shouldn’t have let myself fall for her._ It was a constant barrage of should’s and should-not’s that might have led to a different outcome if she’d only known. Some of them were darker than others. _I should have sabotaged her marriage years ago. I should have convinced her to leave Steven there to rot._

She looked at Steven, sleeping soundly in his stroller beside Greg, and knew that she should feel horrible for even considering that last one. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. There just wasn’t any space. One Quartz went into the DAA building that night, and a different Quartz came out. A one for one deal with the devil.

It was a small affair. The girls from Rose’s practice were all there. Some of the older clients were really heartbroken. Ruby, for example. The poor girl had now lost two mothers in her lifetime. Sapphire, while appropriately sad, was mostly here to support her girlfriend. Peridot, also very new to the practice and seemingly very good at compartmentalizing her feelings, was trying to console Lapis, who was weeping freely but silently. Although Peridot tried to remain impassive, Pearl noticed that the girl gravitated towards cool, smooth surfaces when she was distressed, and at the moment she was gripping a glass water bottle with white knuckles. Amethyst was tromping around a few yards away, kicking rocks and casting blame anywhere it would stick. Pearl didn’t begrudge her the childish display. No space. She might later, looking back.

Besides them, it was just her, Greg, Steven, and Greg’s brother, who mostly just looked like he was waiting for Greg to let him leave. Rose didn’t have any family to speak of, and so that was that.

They gathered in the community garden at 10 and released rose petals into the wind. They didn’t even have a body to bury. Pearl couldn’t decide if that made it better or worse. She couldn’t imagine looking at her best friend lying cold and still in a wooden box, but somehow doing it this way just felt unfair. They went around the group, everyone saying a few words of remembrance, and then the party fell mostly silent. Greg’s brother left after an uncomfortable shoulder hug between them. _Awkward._

She couldn’t help but fall back into the same pattern. _She’s gone, and it’s all my fault. I should have done something differently. Anything differently. Everything differently. I swore to myself I’d protect her. And now she’s gone._

“Pearl? …Pearl?”

Pearl refocused suddenly, realizing Sapphire must have been trying to get her attention multiple times.

“Hmm?”

“Well, the girls and I were wondering what’s going to happen to the doctor’s office?”

Pearl’s stomach turned at the thought of having to manage her dead best friend’s assets.

“I don’t know. The lease was in her name, so I think it falls to Greg.”

Greg wandered over after hearing his name, and Sapphire turned to ask him the same question.

“Mr. Universe, I don’t know if it’s feasible for you, but the girls and I were wondering – _hoping_ , really – that the doctor’s office might remain open to regulars? We’ve been having group meetings recently, us five, and they’ve been really helpful – “

Greg half-smiled. “I’m sure Rose would have loved to hear that. I’ll try my best, okay?”

Sapphire smiled and nodded. “You should come, Pearl. I think being in her office will be a comfort.”

Pearl nodded absently, waiting for Sapphire to drift back over to the group of girls. She couldn’t think that far in advance right now.

Greg turned to coo over baby Steven, who was starting to fuss.

Pearl thought of going home to her empty apartment and nearly retched. She resolved to take the train as far as it would go. Maybe all the way to the shore. She thought about walking into the surf until it covered her head, and just walking further. She thought about walking to the bottom of the ocean, with thousands of pounds of water pressure pushing down on her shoulders. She thought that sounded pretty manageable compared to the weight she bore right now.

_She’s gone. It’s over, isn’t it._


	31. Chapter 31

Greg’s music somehow landed him a little bit of cash after Rose’s death, so he used that money to keep the lease on the office. The girls kept their weekly meetings: they hurt together, they healed together. Ruby was a ghost for the first few sessions. Amethyst spent the majority of the meetings questioning everyone’s authority: things like “You’re not Rose” and personal digs against whoever was speaking. She lashed out at people when she was angry, but Sapphire assured everyone privately that she would be fine if she just had some time and space. After about a month of regular weekly meetings, schedules started to clash, and then it became biweekly. Then monthly. Before anyone knew it, a whole year had passed. On the anniversary of Rose’s death, they all sat down to dinner together at Greg’s. Instead of the stiff, morbid affair her funeral had been, this was warm and congenial. They remembered the good times with Rose and celebrated her life. They kept on living.

Lapis got into MassArt on a scholarship. Peridot was so excited for her that she went on an accepted students’ campus tour with her, so she wouldn’t have to go alone. Lapis spent most of the day rolling her eyes and explaining contemporary art to Peridot, but secretly, she was glad to have her best friend there with her.

Pearl started working as a mechanic, of all things. She found the menial labor relaxing, and it soothed her the way that everything in a machine came together perfectly to produce a desired result. Amethyst took a surprising interest in learning how to fix stuff – maybe because she broke stuff so often – so Pearl took the girl under her wing. One day after a long day of work at the garage, Pearl came home and opened her fridge to find nothing but Soylent shakes. She sighed, defeated. Then, her doorbell rang. She opened the door to find a floofy cat sitting on her doormat, holding a greasy brown bag in her teeth.

“Very convincing, Amethyst, but the purple fur is kind of a giveaway.”

The cat dropped the bag and hissed a little bit. “Damn, I always forget about the purple!”

Amethyst, now human-shaped, bashfully offered Pearl the bag. “Picked you up some takeout. Figured you were just gonna sit and feel sorry for yourself all night if I didn’t.”

Pearl put up a big show about complaining about the unhealthy food, how it was going to upset her stomach, how greasy food didn’t agree with her, how it’s rude to show up places unannounced, blah blah blah, but she was smiling.

Amethyst counted that as a victory. Every victory with Pearl was a small one, but Amethyst could be patient if she needed to be.

Ruby and Sapphire signed on an apartment together for the upcoming school year. As two of the most faithful members of superhero show-and-tell club, they actually spent time together exploring their abilities. Sapphire learned that she could throw ice from her feet, which made her run much faster, and gave her the illusion of super speed. Ruby learned how to heat up things without literally setting them on fire. After the DAA debacle, they ran a few more experiments with the destabilizer. They loved being Garnet together, and they found that it was easier and easier to stay fused longer as time went on. She had a whole new realm of powers. She had Sapphire’s future vision, but it was more reliable, steadier. Garnet could weigh probabilities and make split-second decisions in a way that Sapphire still marveled at when they were unfused. At Pearl’s warnings, though, they locked away the destabilizer for good. Pearl had found some reports of atypicals losing their sense of self after extended influence from a destabilizer, and they all concluded it was better to be safe than sorry.

Steven was growing so fast, walking and talking and looking more and more like Rose every day. Greg often pawned him off with Pearl or one of the girls while he was at work, so there were times when Steven found himself as a de facto member of the superhero show-and-tell club. Rose was right about him and Amethyst – they got on like a house on fire. Some times more literally than others (usually times where Ruby was involved).

It was an oddly-shaped family, but everyone fit somewhere, and there was so much love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the plot as I've imagined it! From here on out I'll still be posting chapters but they'll probs just be fluff and fun, I don't really have more story to tell. I'm excited, there's some really gay shit coming up.


	32. Chapter 32

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw alcohol

“Ruby, trust me! It’s gonna be killer! Pleeeeeeease?” Amethyst shook Ruby by the shoulders.

Ruby was laughing “Fine, fine, you can plan my 21st birthday party, but! I wanna keep it small, okay? Just family. If something happened to the apartment Sapph would kill me – actually, she’d probably just kill you.”

Amethyst huffed a sigh “Fiiiiiiine, that’ll probably only make it 27% lamer than it would have been.” Her eyes lit up “Ooh, can it be a surprise?!”

Ruby furrowed her brow, “Sis… we’re talking about it right now… I know exactly where and when it’s gonna be.”

Amethyst waved a dismissive hand, “Everyone knows about their own surprise parties. It just means you have to pretend to be surprised and then get extra smashed.” Ruby just laughed.

**Amethyst started a new groupchat**

**Amethyst named the group “Ruby’s 21 st”**

**Amethyst:** heyoooooooo so Rue turns 21 next Saturday and we’re gonna throw a surprise party at her place, everyone in?

 **Sapphire:** Amethyst if something happens at this party and my apartment gets trashed I will kill you

 **Amethyst:** damn, your psychicness is rubbing off on her

 **Sapphire:**???

 **Amethyst:** lmao don’t worry mom, we’ll keep it small. just family.

 **Peridot:** I’m free that day

 **Lapis:** me too, sounds fun

 **Pearl:** Um... did you add me to this groupchat on accident, Amethyst?

 **Amethyst:** nope! youre gonna unwind your gd granny panties for one night, k? doctor’s orders, perogie

 **Pearl:** It’s spelled pierogi

 **Amethyst:** oh my GOD someone get this woman drunk

 **Sapphire:** I can get Ruby out of the house while you all set up

 **Amethyst:** sweet. We’ll need decorations, snacks, and booze

 **Peridot:** SNACKS!

 **Amethyst:** love the enthusiasm, pdot

 **Lapis:** I guess that leaves decorations for me bc I’m underage

 **Amethyst:** fair enough, the baby’s got decorations. If they suck, I’m capping you at one wine cooler

 **Lapis:** don’t fckn call me “the baby”

 **Amethyst:** Alright, that leaves Pearl for drinks

 **Pearl:** You can’t expect me to buy alcohol for minors, that’s illegal!

 **Amethyst:** ooooooookay, sounds like I’m on drinks then! Lets meet at Ruby and Sapphire’s at like 7 on the day of to get everything ready!

* * *

Sapphire surreptitiously left her key in the mailbox on their way to Ruby’s birthday dinner. Like burglars in the night, Amethyst, Lapis, and Peridot arrived shortly after and snuck into the empty apartment with bags and bags of party supplies. Once in, Lapis started stringing up twinkly lights and banners that said “Happy Birthday!” Amethyst set up a drinks table in the kitchen consisting of a case of Mike’s Hard and a handle of tequila, and then wandered into the living room to appraise Lapis’ work.

“Meh, it doesn’t really say ‘get fucked up for your 21st birthday’.”

Lapis cocked an eyebrow and started unloading the second bag of party stuff. There was a sash that said “Kiss me, I’m 21”, a necklace with a light-up shot glass attached, and a giant spinner wheel with instructions like “shotgun your beer” and “tequila shot!”.

“Nice!! Good work, kid!” Amethyst clapped her on the back and went back into the kitchen to check on Peridot, who was pouring bags of chips, pretzels, and gummy worms into bowls.

Everyone stopped when the doorbell rang.

“Shit, is it them?” Lapis whispered, even though they were a whole floor above whoever was waiting outside.

Amethyst hurriedly checked her phone “Sapphire hasn’t messaged. Maybe a neighbor lost their key or something.” Amethyst jogged down the stairs to see who was on the landing.

She opened the door and her jaw nearly dropped. Pearl stood there wearing a leather jacket and a ripped t-shirt, carrying two cases of beer and a stack of solo cups.

“P! What happened, you look – cool! And you brought booze?? For minors??” Now her voice assumed a teasing tone “That’s serious, Pearl, you could get in real trouble.”

Pearl rolled her eyes. “I figured, I’ve already committed some kind of crime against the Diamonds. Might as well embrace the criminal. Maybe I’ll teach you kids how to play pong.”

Amethyst excitedly followed Pearl up the stairs, “Oh my god, P, this is so rad.”

Pearl showed Peridot and Lapis how to set up a game of pong and taught them the rules. Amethyst hooked up the speakers and started building a playlist. Everything was just about ready when their phones all buzzed in unison.

 **Sapphire:** We’re leaving the restaurant, 10 minutes!

The group scrambled to shut off all the lights and find a place to hide. Before long, they heard the main door swing open and a pair of voices chatting their way up the stairs. They heard a key jingling in the lock, and when the door swung open, everyone jumped out and yelled “Surprise!”

Ruby threw her hands up in mock-surprise, “Oh, wow! Hey everyone! I had no idea you’d be here tonight! Wow!! Surprising!!” Ruby and Sapphire laughed at her awful faked reaction.

“Hey, did you tell her!” Peridot pointed an accusing finger at Sapphire.

“Nah, Peridot, Amethyst asked me if she could throw this party before she even planned any of it.”

Peridot looked confusedly at Amethyst, who just shrugged and started blasting “Shots”.

Amethyst slung the sash over Ruby’s head and Sapphire followed its instructions. The group made their way into the kitchen, where Amethyst distributed shot glasses to everyone and bust open the tequila.

They started a pong tournament, Ruby and Sapphire versus Amethyst and Pearl, with Lapis and Peridot playing the winners. Pearl was surprisingly good at it, and the more she drank, the more relaxed she got. When she and Amethyst won their final game, she slung an arm around the shorter girl, and Amethyst and Ruby made significant eye contact.

 _I’m having a gay crisis._ Amethyst’s eyes said to Ruby.

Ruby waggled her eyebrows. “Hey, anybody wanna play spin the bottle?”

Amethyst could have killed her right there, birthday girl or not.

“I need another shot if we’re gonna do that.” Lapis walked over to the drinks table with Peridot in tow while the rest of the gang settled into a circle on the floor.

“What’s spin the bottle?” Peridot sounded like she was trying to keep her voice low, but she was three beers deep and that seemed to knock out her volume meter; it wound up sounding like a wobbly stage whisper.

“It’s a party game where everyone sits in a circle and someone spins an empty bottle. When the bottle stops, whoever spun and whoever the bottle is pointing at have to kiss. On the lips.”

Peridot’s eyes got wide and she silently accepted the tequila shot Lapis poured for her. They knocked it back, screwed up their faces in distaste, and rejoined the group on the floor.

Amethyst passed an empty bottle to Ruby “Birthday girl first!” She seemed to have regained some of her party animal swagger.

Ruby rolled her eyes, understanding that this was the price she had to pay if she was gonna use this game to annoy Amethyst. She leaned forward and spun the bottle, hoping for Sapphire.

The bottle slowed to a halt, pointing directly across the circle at Lapis. Amethyst and Peridot started hooting laughing, and Sapphire chuckled, “Go on then”. Pearl huffed a small laugh.

Lapis shrugged and shuffled across the circle on her knees, too lazy to stand all the way up. Ruby hoisted herself up to her knees as well, and they shared a short kiss. Amethyst and Peridot hooted again, and this time Pearl clapped.

“Alright, alright, Sapphy goes next.” Ruby passed the bottle clockwise to her girlfriend, who spun it very gently specifically so it would land on Ruby.

“I think that’s cheating!” Amethyst pointed an accusing finger at the couple who were already leaning towards each other.

“Eh, it’s my birthday and I’ll allow it.” Ruby snarked back without taking her eyes off Sapphire. The girls kissed sweetly and slowly, before passing the bottle to Pearl.

Pearl was doing her best to remain “cool” in the eyes of her friends, despite feeling a little awkward about the age gap between them and the idea that, well, she used to work for their therapist, but underneath her steady façade she was dreading this moment. She looked around the circle of young women and couldn’t imagine herself casually kissing any of them. Well, maybe except-

She brushed off that train of thought and decided to grin and bear it. She spun the bottle, feigning casual, and watched it make two full rotations before pointing back at herself. She felt a rush of relief tinged with… disappointment?

 _What is going on with me tonight?_ She decided to blame the booze.

Outwardly, she just shrugged. “Skip me, I guess.” And she passed the bottle to Peridot. Peridot took it with wide eyes, and bit her lip. As she spun the bottle, she found herself hoping… why? Why did she care which person it landed on?

Before she could properly analyze the shiny feeling in her stomach, the bottle landed on Amethyst. The shiny feeling turned sour.

“C’mere Pdot, I’m gonna rock your world.”

“I- uh- rrghg” Peridot did an excellent impression of a frightened rabbit before jumping to her feet and running out of the room. An awkward silence was punctuated by the slam of the bathroom door.

Lapis rolled her eyes again, hoisting herself to her feet. “I got her.”

Amethyst grimaced. “Well, that’s a hit to the ego… You guys up for a pong rematch?’

Lapis drifted down the hall to the bathroom and walked in without knocking. Peridot was pressing her hands to the cool surface of the countertop, eyes flickering back and forth. When Lapis closed the door behind her, the music became muffled and the party felt much further away. She saw Peridot heave a relieved sigh. Lapis hopped up to sit on the counter facing Peridot, and silently waited.

“I didn’t want Amethyst to be my first kiss.”

Lapis’ eyebrows shot up “That would have been your first kiss? I don’t blame you for not wanting to waste it on a dumb party game.”

“It wasn’t just the game it was… When the bottle was spinning I realized I wanted it to land on – uh, on someone specific, but I don’t really know what to do with that feeling, and I’ve never really thought about the possibility that I … like? Girls? Or maybe just _a_ girl? My head is kinda spinning and I’ve never been drunk _or_ gay before and now I’m?? Both?”

Peridot looked up at Lapis, wild-eyed, and Lapis had to choke back a laugh. “Peridot, this is like _so_ normal, okay? Figuring out you might not be straight can be weird and scary sometimes. But, you’re safe here. You don’t have to decide right now, you don’t have to _do_ anything about it, and no one is gonna bust you for skipping out on the game. Well, maybe Amethyst, but she’ll go easy on you.”

“But I want to do something about it right now! It’s like you said, it’s been this cloudy maybe in my head for ages and I’m tired of it! I, ugh, I don’t know! I want to just _decide!”_

“Then decide. You wanna march out there and announce to the room that you’re not straight, amazing, that’ll be the end of heterosexuality in this friend group. Everyone’s gonna be fine with it, Peri.”

Peridot shook her head “That’s not what I’m worried about … I don’t… ugh I don’t KNOW!” She started to fuss with the end of her hijab in earnest and looked like she might cry, eyes downcast. Lapis felt something tug at her heart.

“I wanna help Peridot, but I don’t know how.” She reached out to put a hand on the girl’s shoulder.

Peridot looked up at her, swallowed heavily, and spoke. “I wanted the bottle to point to you, Lapis.”

Lapis had to bite back a grim laugh. Here it was, the perfect irony. Her best friend - one of the sweetest, most genuine people she’d ever met - wanted to be with her, and all she felt was guilt. She knew she would be a terrible partner, she had plenty of history being a terrible partner, and Peridot knew all of that and wanted her still. Lapis felt the sick urge to give in and let herself ruin Peridot, but she held out. She looked down at her feet, swinging off the edge of the countertop, and smiled bitterly.

“You deserve someone so much better than me.”

Peridot screwed up her brow in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, you’re amazing, and honest, and adorable, and any girl – any person at all – would be so lucky to have you. You don’t want to get too close to me, I’ll just fuck everything up.”

“Lapis, that’s not true!”

“Yes, it is, I ruin everything! I would never forgive myself if I ever hurt you. We can’t be together.”

“I trust you, though. You wouldn’t hurt me, not on purpose.”

“But _I_ don’t trust me!”

Peridot shook her head quickly. “Wait, I’m confused. Self-loathing aside – and we will come back to that – do you like me or don’t you?”

Lapis knew she shouldn’t say it, shouldn’t give in, but something loosened her tongue – maybe the tequila.

“I love you, Peridot.”

Peridot’s eyes widened behind tinted glasses. Before either of them could question it, Peridot leaned up and planted her lips on Lapis’. Lapis couldn’t help but melt into the kiss, letting her hands alight on Peridot’s shoulders and pulling her closer.

Peridot did not expect to feel so fully engaged by a kiss. She’d heard people describe kissing in movies and songs but she didn’t really believe them when they talked about a stomach full of butterflies or a heart feeling like it could burst. She felt a little dizzy, a little weightless, and for once in her life she didn’t even notice the sound of millions of cell phones and computers pressing in on her senses.

The girls started apart hearing someone knock on the door.

“Are you girls okay?” Pearl timidly asked through the closed door.

Peridot pulled Lapis down off the counter by the hand and led her out of the bathroom. Pearl smiled sweetly, noticing their held hands, and let them rejoin the party. From down the hall she could hear Amethyst and Ruby hooting while Sapphire congratulated the new couple.

Peridot was shuffling her feet, looking bashful, but Lapis confidently slung her arm around the shorter girl.

“Happy birthday, Ruby, you don’t have any straight friends anymore.” Lapis deadpanned, half-smiling.

The whole room erupted into laughter and cheers.


	33. Chapter 33

Lapis dropped the last box on the floor and sighed, exhausted. Cardboard boxes lined the bare walls of her new dorm room. For someone who had been technically homeless for the past year, she sure did have a lot of shit. Peridot was sitting on the unmade bed, swinging her legs back and forth and reading a campus map.

“You know, Peridot, when someone asks you to help them move, they probably actually want your help and not just your company.”

Peridot, not looking up, flapped a hand at Lapis. “You seem to have all of the carrying under control.”

“At least get off my bed so I can make it.”

Peridot hummed, as if she was considering it. “No. My legs don’t work.”

Lapis rolled her eyes, sitting on the bed next to Peridot. She made a face and squirmed for a second. “Ugh, this mattress is like a rock. I used to think your couch bed was tough, but this is way worse.”

Peridot suddenly felt her stomach drop, remembering that her girlfriend wouldn’t be living with her anymore. “You’ll always be welcome to stay the night with me, if you want.”

Lapis smiled, “Yeah, I’ll probably take you up on that. It’ll be kinda weird living on my own. Not having your snoring to keep me up all night anymore.” Lapis bumped Peridot’s shoulder and laughed.

“I do not snore!!” Peridot looked so affronted and Lapis couldn’t help but laugh harder.

“For real, Peridot, thank you for helping me out for all this time. Even before… you know.” She teasingly poked at a hickey on Peridot’s collarbone, who pulled her neck in like a turtle at the sudden contact.

Peridot’s heart twisted. “I’ll miss you, Lapis. It’ll be weird for me too, having the place to myself again.”

A tense silence fell between the girls. They both had something they wanted to say, but neither of them said anything. Peridot started to fuss with the hanging fabric of her green hijab again. She had nearly built up the courage to broach the subject when Lapis broke the silence first.

“Well, my hall orientation starts in a little bit, so I should probably head out” she said in a robotic tone, not actually wanting Peridot to leave.

Peridot nodded, not making eye contact, and hopped off the bed. “Well, you know where to find me. Good luck.” The girls shared a quick kiss, and with a sad smile, Peridot left.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Lapis felt like she had made a mistake. She thought about how to ask Peridot but she was coming up blank. They wouldn’t be seeing nearly as much of each other anymore, and she didn’t want to do it via text. This had been the perfect moment and it had passed her by.

Before she knew it she was on her feet and running out into the hallway. Peridot was about to step into the elevator.

“Peridot, wait!”

Lapis ran down the hall while Peridot stood like a deer in the headlights.

“I – I don’t know. I thought, maybe if you wanted…” She stuttered for a moment, breathing hard, and Peridot searched her face intensely. Lapis braced herself and dove in. “We could look for an apartment together for next year? “ Peridot was thinking but her face was unreadable, and Lapis started to backpedal. “I don’t know. It’s fine if you don’t want to, I just thought-“

“I would love that.” Peridot nodded at Lapis, who looked a bit expectant still. “We already know we make good roommates, and if we start looking now we can find somewhere that’s between both of our campuses, it would probably be cheaper than staying in the dorms next year, and I think if we-“

Peridot’s halting speech was cut off when Lapis excitedly planted her lips on Peridot’s.

Before Lapis could deepen the kiss, Peridot pulled back and swatted at her girlfriend. “You’ll be late for orientation.”

Lapis pecked Peridot one more time before jogging back up the hall towards the common room.

 “Love you!” Peridot called just as the elevator arrived.

“Love you too!” Lapis tossed over her shoulder, along with a blinding grin that made Peridot’s heart swell.


	34. Chapter 34

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer: everything I know about wrestling came from that one episode of The Fosters so forgive me

How Pearl found herself squeezed on the cheap metal bleachers of a smelly gymnasium on a Friday night, she would never quite understand. The crowd of rowdy college kids around her was jostling her tiny frame back and forth, the cheers from all sides were making her ears ring, and the fluorescent lights were giving her a headache. But there she sat, beside Ruby and Sapphire who were each holding half of a banner that said “Go Amethyst!” She had a small flag that bore Amethyst’s school colors: red and white.

“This is the last match before Amethyst is up!” Ruby had to shout over the roar of the crowd, even though Pearl was right beside her. Rather than trying to respond, Pearl just nodded.

She watched, confused, as two hulking figures became entirely entangled on the mat. The referee raised a hand and a point for the visiting school went up on the scoreboard. The wrestlers disentangled themselves, walked to a different spot on the mat, repositioned themselves, and started grappling again.

“What happened?”

“A reversal! You get a certain amount of points for different moves.”

Pearl nodded, still unsure of what she just watched. This was a more complicated sport than she had envisioned.

A buzzer sounded and the referee walked over to the visiting school’s wrestler, raising their hand into the air. The opposite side of the gymnasium erupted into cheers, and Pearl followed Ruby’s example of booing and hissing, understanding only from context that their team had lost.

“Damn, now we’re tied with the other team! It all comes down to Amethyst’s match.” Ruby turned to Sapphire. “Would you pleeeeease tell me if she wins??” Sapphire’s lips quirked into a half-smile and her eyes flickered to Pearl. “Nope. It’ll be a surprise.” Ruby huffed a defeated sigh, and Sapphire laughed.

Pearl wasn’t sure at all why she agreed to come. She knew nothing about wrestling, she didn’t care very much for sports in general, and she felt a little strange rooting for a school she had never gone to.

But then, of course, she couldn’t have said no if she tried. Earlier this week, she was at the garage showing Amethyst how a car battery works when the girl asked her to come.

“And then the current flows like this—“ Pearl pointed to one of the wires, “That’s why we connect positive to negative, negative to ground.”

“Ground??”

“That just means any bit of spare metal, it just releases extra energy safely.”

“Huh. You’re really good at this stuff, Pearl.”

Pearl swallowed, unsure of what to do with a genuine compliment from Amethyst. “Well, anyone can learn.”

Amethyst nodded thoughtfully and quietly watched Pearl reassemble the battery after installing a replacement part. Pearl was more than a little bit proud of how much Amethyst had grown over the past year. She was still silly, reckless, and sometimes downright sophomoric, but she was less performative. Her actions were subtler and more genuine.

“Hey, speaking of the ground—“

“It doesn’t literally mean the ground, Amethyst, it’s just –“

“I know, Pearl, just lemme use this awful segue.” Pearl smirked but nodded to indicate that she was listening, not taking her eyes off her work. “My first wrestling match of the season is Friday. Ruby and Sapphire are coming. I invited Lapis and Peridot, but I’m wrestling a certain someone that Lapis would rather avoid so they said no.” Pearl hummed, remembering Lapis’ terrible relationship with one of Amethyst’s wrestling rivals.

“Anyway, I was wondering if you’d come.”

Pearl stopped what she was doing, looking up at the girl. Amethyst kept her eyes trained on the car battery, stock still. After a moment she started worrying her lip between her teeth. “You don’t have to-“

“Of course I’ll be there.” Amethyst looked up at Pearl, eyes wide. A grin slowly spread across her face.

“Awesome.”

They continued to work on the car battery in silence for a minute before Pearl spoke again. “What on Earth did that have to do with the ground?”

Amethyst blushed “Wrestling? You havta, like, roll around on the ground a lot? I told you it was a bad segue.”

Pearl, sitting in the loud gymnasium, smiled at the memory as the star of the evening stepped out into the gym. Ruby started _screaming_ encouragement, and even Sapphire stood up to cheer. Amethyst jogged out onto the mat, and scanned the crowd. Her eyes lit up when she found Ruby and she pointed at her across the gym in acknowledgement. When her gaze settled on Pearl, her eyes softened. Pearl felt her stomach lurch in a way she didn’t want to think about right now. She started cheering along with the crowd: “Go Amethyst!”

From the other side of the gym, a bulky blonde stepped out onto the mat. Her skin was so fried from a tanning bed that it looked orange. She understood now why Amethyst called her the big buff cheeto puff – among other, nastier nicknames.

The competitor rolled her neck as she stepped onto the mat, and she gave Amethyst a hungry grin, like a snake sizing up its prey. The girls shook hands and fell into their beginning positions. The tension was palpable as the crowd and the wrestlers waited for the starting buzzer.

_BRRRRRRZT_

The girls flew at each other, and the match began. Everyone in the room could taste the bad energy built up between the wrestlers over the last year. The whole weight of the first match of the season fell on these next few minutes, and Pearl felt herself getting caught up. Every roll, grab, and takedown made her heart jump. She even gasped aloud when Amethyst was thrown onto the mat and pinned under her opponent’s knee.

 _She could get hurt!_ Pearl nearly flung herself off the bleachers and onto the mat to save Amethyst, but she held herself back. She decided not to analyze that impulse too closely.

Apparently that was an illegal move because the ref threw himself between the girls to stop the match. Amethyst sprung back to standing, purple ponytail disheveled and eyes wild. The ref had them reset with Amethyst in an advantageous position over her opponent, but in no time at all the larger girl had flipped their positions and pinned Amethyst to the mat again. Pearl couldn’t stop herself from shouting, “COME ON AMETHYST!”

Amethyst’s eyes met Pearl’s for a moment. She screwed her face up with effort and managed to push her opponent off for a moment. She slid out from under her weight sideways, and scissored her legs quickly, taking her opponent down. She flung herself onto the blonde’s prostrate form and the ref counted “1, 2, 3!” just as the buzzer sounded.

The crowd went _wild._ Amethyst jumped up and backed away from her opponent, grinning like a fool as the ref walked over and raised her hand into the air. The blonde remained on the ground for another second before picking herself up and storming out of the room. The door banged shut behind her, but the noise was concealed by the overwhelming roar of screaming fans, Pearl included.

Amethyst’s face, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, was absolutely glowing. Her teammates came pouring out onto the mat and they surrounded Amethyst, cheering and punching her lightheartedly on the shoulders.

Ruby yanked Pearl’s hand, “C’mon!” Letting herself be led down the bleachers towards the roiling crowd, Pearl couldn’t take her eyes off Amethyst. She looked so happy, so triumphant after such a long time doubting herself. Her ponytail was barely held together, her flyaway hairs were plastered to her forehead with sweat, and Pearl couldn’t help but think she had never looked lovelier.

Ruby led them to the center of the crowd around Amethyst and tackle-hugged her best friend, who laughed and swung them both around. Amethyst put Ruby down, hugged Sapphire a little more gently, and then made eye contact with Pearl.

_Should I hug her? What’s the social expectation here?_

After a split second of indecision, Pearl extended a hand to pat Amethyst on the shoulder. Amethyst intercepted the hand, pulled Pearl close, and kissed her square on the mouth.

If Pearl thought the crowd went wild when Amethyst won the match, well, they went absolutely _ballistic_ now.

Ruby gaped at Sapphire, who laughed, having known all along this was the outcome of the evening. “I told you it would be a surprise.”


	35. Chapter 35

Ruby had imagined the whole evening a hundred times over. There were flowers, string quartets, champagne, chocolate covered strawberries. Anything you could want in a proposal. The one thing she absolutely never imagined was being beaten to the punch.

Here they were, a week away from their second anniversary. They were at Sapphire’s mom’s house for winter break while she was out of town on business, trying to cook pizzas from scratch. Ruby had flour in her messy hair and Sapphire had tomato sauce all over her baggy sleep shirt. As soon as the pizzas were in the oven, Ruby scooped up her girlfriend and sat her on the counter, wedging her own body between pale thighs. Sapphire’s hands came to cup Ruby’s cheeks before she leaned in for a lazy kiss. After enjoying a moment of closeness, Sapphire pulled back and held eye contact with Ruby, considering. Ruby cocked her head to the side, a silent question.

“Marry me, Ruby.”

Years later, if Ruby was asked to describe her thought process at this very moment, she would have said “dial-up internet noises.”

Sapphire took in the dumbfounded expression in front of her for exactly 3 seconds before starting to panic. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck fu-_

“Yes.” Ruby looked confused that she had even managed to make that sound. Sapphire remained spooked.

“Really?”

“Yes! Oh, my god, yes!!” At this, Ruby picked her up again and swung her around in her arms, both girls laughing.

“Oh, my god, Ruby you scared me!” Sapphire tried to be brisk but it’s hard to properly scold someone who’s physically holding you, and both of you are smiling and laughing, and you’re now newly engaged.

Ruby, smiling, put her down. “I’m sorry, Sapphy, it’s just. I was _literally_ planning to ask you next week, on our anniversary.”

Sapphire’s mouth dropped open.

“Wait, you’re fucking psychic! How is that a surprise to you?”

“I knew you were going to surprise me with something that night, so I didn’t try to See. I thought the surprise was going to be fancy dinner reservations, but wow.”

Ruby shook her head. “Nope.” She popped the p.  “I even bought a ring.” Ruby grabbed her bag from the table and rummaged around, pulling out a small, black, velvet box.

Sapphire tenderly opened the box to find two silver rings, both inlaid with garnet stones. Speechless, she looked up from the box and gaped at her girlfr- no, fiancée.

“I figured, after that whole thing with Dr. Quartz, diamonds wouldn’t quite fit.” She shrugged. Sapphire charged, wrapping cold arms around warm shoulders, and squeezing until Ruby let out a small _oof._

“I love them, Ruby. I love you.”

“I love you, Sapphy.”

The couple untangled themselves, and took turns putting a ring on the finger of the other. Ruby’s heart was pounding, and tears pricked at Sapphire’s eyes. They hugged once again, which escalated to kissing, which escalated to Sapphire dragging the couple to her old bedroom and kicking the door shut behind them.

It was the best night of their lives, even considering that Mrs. Gem came home from her business trip a few days earlier than expected. As foretold, she walked in on them, fainted, and needed to be driven to the hospital for a concussion. Sapphire couldn’t be happier.

* * *

 

Amethyst’s phone vibration seemed a million times louder in the quiet tranquility of Pearl’s apartment. The sound was followed by a stifled groan and the rustling of covers.

_BZZT_

_BZZT_

“Amethyst, please.” Pearl’s voice was raspy with sleep.

Without lifting her face off the pillow, Amethyst reached out for the phone, feeling around on the side table until she grabbed it. The screen showed a goofy picture of her and Ruby from a few years back. She slid her thumb across the screen, flopping back down onto the pillow.

“Rue, you better be fucking dying to be calling me at ass o’clock in the morning“ Amethyst tried to lean over to see the clock.

“It’s 7:30” Pearl supplied unhappily.

“Seven fucking thirty” Amethyst drew out every syllable, annoyed.

“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t realize it’s so early, it’s been kind of a weird night. But, sis…. Sapph and I are getting married!”

Amethyst shot up to sitting, “What!”

Pearl rolled over, alarmed. “What’s wrong??”

Amethyst shushed Pearl to assure her everything was okay.

“She asked me out of nowhere last night! I was gonna ask her on our anniversary and I bought rings and everything but last night we were just being silly and making dinner and… yeah she asked me. And then her mom came home and passed out and we took her to the hospital – it’s funny, Sapph said she had a vision about that part, but like, she’ll be fine and she’s not even invited to the wedding. Anyway, I just … I’m engaged!” Ruby prattled until she ran out of breath, laughing periodically.

“Dude that’s awesome!! I’m so happy for you both!” Amethyst put her hand over the receiver to relay the news to Pearl, who gasped excitedly.

“Wait, who are you talking to? Are you with Pearl right now?? You stud!” Amethyst blushed and stammered out something that Ruby didn’t hear, her muffled voice coming through the phone “Sapph, she and Pearl are together right now… I know!”

Pearl rested her head in Amethyst’s lap “What is she saying?”

Amethyst’s blush deepened “Uhh, nothing.”

Pearl squinted in suspicion, but let it slide.

“Anyway, dude, dude. The reason I called is, I want you to be my maid of honor!” Ruby gushed.

“Really? Wow, uh yeah! Of course!” Her heart caught in her throat, thinking about helping Ruby have the best wedding ever. Ruby must really trust her. Her smile could have powered cities.

The phone jostled a bit and then Sapphire’s voice rang through the speaker “And, while she’s there, would you put Pearl on the phone? I’d like her to be mine.”

Amethyst passed the phone down to Pearl, who looked alarmed at first.

“C’mon, our cover has already been blown.” Amethyst admitted. Pearl sheepishly took the phone from Amethyst.

“Uh, hello?”

“Pearl! Please be my maid of honor.”

“Really? I mean, I’d love to, but… why would you pick me?”

“Why wouldn’t I, Pearl? You’re family. And I happen to think that you would plan an excellent wedding. You and Amethyst will make a good team.” She smiled up at her girlfriend who had absentmindedly started playing with her cropped short hair. _Yeah, we do make a good team._

The four girls chatted about particulars for a while longer before saying goodbye. Amethyst and Pearl flopped back down to sleep, considering the trust and love they had managed to surround themselves with.


	36. Chapter 36

Pearl zipped up the back of Sapphire’s dress while barking instructions into an earpiece. “No, the blue forget-me-nots are meant to _alternate_ rows with the red roses… Ugh, I’ll do it myself in a minute. Is the officiant here? …Oh thank gods, if he wasn’t here in ten minutes I was going to make Greg get a certification online. What about the musicians?”

Sapphire chuckled at Pearl’s antics, regarding herself in the full length mirror. Her long white gown billowed out at her waist. Her pale blue hair fell in gentle waves down her back. She felt like a princess.

Pearl was fussing with the flower crown of tiny forget-me-nots that Sapphire had opted for over a traditional veil. Sapphire turned to regard her maid of honor. She had rented a full tuxedo, complete with a bowtie and a top hat, and even Sapphire had to say she looked striking. _Amethyst won’t even know what hit her._

“Amethyst, is Ruby ready?”

Amethyst was in another room rubbing Ruby’s back as the bride-to-be sat hyperventilating.

“Uhhhh, she’s dressed, if that’s what you mean.”

Ruby had swapped her usual red headband for a flower crown of small red roses. Her dress was actually a long white pantsuit with deceptively swooshy legs. She had actually found it while trying on dresses and was overwhelmed with excitement to find that it had pants. The personality who bounced around the dressing room kicking her legs around that day was gone.

“What if something goes wrong? What if she doesn’t love me anymore? Not like today but in like 30 years?? I don’t want to be a divorcee! I couldn’t handle that!!” Wild eyes snapped up to meet Amethyst’s in the mirror “What if I _die!?”_

Amethyst continued rubbing her back, “You are going to die. But you’ll be very old, and you’ll still be married to Sapphire, who will also be very old, so it’s fine. You gotta breathe though, sis.”

Ruby took a few shuddering breaths. “Sorry, dude, I just… This is intense.”

“It’s supposed to be intense, you’re getting married! You’re gonna get up there in front of all your friends and tell your girl you’ll love her forever. And she’ll say it right back. And you’ll probably cry, and she’ll probably laugh at you, and everyone gets laid tonight. It’s gonna be amazing.”

Ruby smiled at her maid of honor’s pep talk. Amethyst was wearing a deep purple, form fitting dress, claiming that she still fit the wedding color scheme because “red and blue together make purple!”

She took another deep breath. “You’re right. Okay. I’m ready.”

Amethyst chirped the news into her headset, an accessory gifted to her by Pearl.

Her girlfriend’s voice crackled through the other end. “Excellent, get her to her place in 5 minutes. I’ll go settle everyone and start the music.”

Pearl’s people had arranged a few rows of chairs in a semicircle around a floral arch on the beach. Pearl stepped out to the center of the scene and cleared her throat gently. Looking out at the “crowd”, she recognized Lapis and Peridot sitting in the first row, Greg with Steven on his lap on one side, Ruby’s father sitting alone holding a camera, and a boisterous group of people that, based on the resemblance, could only be Amethyst’s entire family.

“Ahem. If everyone would take their seats, we’ll start shortly.”

A hush fell over the crowd as people clattered into seats and got cameras and phones ready. The officiant stood behind a podium just under the floral arch. A few musicians settled into seats behind the archway and a bit off to the side.

Rather than walking down an aisle, Pearl had planned for each bride to approach the podium from opposite sides of the semicircle. No one needed handing off, no one needed to be pigeonholed into the traditional “bride” or “groom” spot. It was an equal pairing. But Amethyst had bemoaned the loss of the “first sight” moment, where they see each other in their wedding dress/suit for the first time and everyone gets to watch them get all foggy eyed. To rectify that, Pearl placed hanging curtains on either side of the scene that she and Amethyst would first emerge from as maids of honor, and Sapphire and Ruby would follow.

Steven _insisted_ on being part of the wedding, so as the music struck up, he toddled out from his seat to throw red and blue flower petals in front of the podium. That merited a chorus of “aww” from Amethyst’s parents and aunts. He toddled back to his seat with his dad, who ruffled his hair happily.

“Okay, Amethyst and I will go on my count, and then wait another measure into the song and come out, roger?” Pearl asked Sapphire, who nodded. Amethyst confirmed that Ruby was ready.

“Okay, Amethyst on one, two, three!” They stepped out and shared a gasp.

 _She’s stunning._ They both thought.

They walked closer together, each carrying one of the wedding rings Ruby had picked out. They stood on either side of the podium and waited.

Just as the music swelled, Ruby and Sapphire stepped out from behind their curtains. They walked slowly towards each other, each holding a small bouquet of red and blue. Ruby’s eyes were shining, and Sapphire was smiling like she couldn’t believe how lucky she was.

The ceremony was relatively short and sweet. There were many tears and nervous laughs and wet smiles. Amethyst was exactly right; Ruby and Sapphire took turns saying they would love each other forever. Ruby cried. Sapphire laughed.

Everyone got laid that night.


	37. Chapter 37

Pearl was awoken by the sound of her cell phone buzzing against the nightstand. She groggily checked the caller ID: _Rose Quartz._ Her sleep-addled mind had not caught up to the present yet, so when she answered with a sticky “hello?” she half-expected to hear the warm, glittering voice of her old friend, even after all this time. The grating voice of Greg Universe snapped her back to reality.

“Pearl?? Hey, it’s me, Greg. I didn’t have your number so I called from Rose’s old cell. I’m sorry to be calling you so late, but we have a problem. It’s Steven. I mean, he’s fine! I guess it’s more of a problem for me than for him. I just- I didn’t know who to call.”

Pearl, wracked with worry, assured Greg that she was on her way over and leapt from her bed. Although she had no affection in her heart for Greg, Steven was the last bit of Rose in the world, and she would be damned if any harm ever came to the boy.

It only took her 15 minutes to get across town from her little apartment to Greg’s live-in car wash. Greg came to answer the door with his left arm curled in towards his chest. His wrist was twisted at an unnatural angle, and his eyes looked like he’d been crying.

“Thank god. Pearl, I need you to take me to the hospital.”

Pearl was completely in business mode. The man in front of her was not the man who stole her love away, he was a patient who needed help. “Of course, where is Steven?” As if on cue, a wail erupted from further inside the little building. Pearl slid past Greg to find the boy, tossing “Get in my car” over her shoulder. She found Steven laying in the middle of his room – actually it appeared that Greg and Steven shared the room, as this was the only room in the building not accessible from the storefront. He was on the ground, beating his tiny fists into the carpet. “Steven, sweet heart, it’s me! It’s your aunt Pearl. Your father and I are going on a little trip and we’d like you to come with us. Steven, is it okay if I pick you up?” Pearl kept her tone low and soothing, and after his crying abated, he nodded. She scooped him up into her arms and took him out to her car. There was a bit of bustling around, getting the car seat out of Greg’s van and into Pearl’s, checking the seatbelts once, twice, three times, and then they were off.

Pearl waited for the boy to doze off before asking “How did this happen?”

Greg looked in the rearview mirror before speaking, trying to keep his voice low. “That’s actually more the reason I called you. Not that I don’t appreciate the ride, but… well. I think he’s starting to inherit Rose’s power. You know how she could control living things, right?” Pearl scoffed at the notion that Rose would have kept that from her – kept _anything_ from her. “Okay, well, you know how she was so good about it, only controlling plants and stuff? Well, Steven’s just a kid, right? He’s coming into his power and he doesn’t know how to control it, so earlier he… He was crying out for her. Calling for his mom. He must have been having a nightmare. I don’t know, it was late, and I was supposed to be up early in the morning, and it’s still so fresh, Rose being gone, that I snapped.” Greg’s voice was heavy with guilt “I yelled at him. I told him that mom’s gone and we can’t see her again because she’s not coming back. Of course, that made him cry harder, and right away I realized that I flew off the handle. I felt so bad. I tried to reach out to him, to console him, but I didn’t even get to touch him before my wrist snapped back on itself.” Pearl listened to the whole story analytically, trying to reserve judgement. “So that’s why I called you. Honestly, Pearl? I’m scared. You know, there are gonna be times when I have to be tough on him, teach him right from wrong, and he’s gonna get mad at me. It’s part of being a parent. But if every time we disagree he sends me to the hospital… I don’t know what to do here, Pearl. I’m out of my depth.”

Pearl remained silent for a long time. Just as they were pulling into the emergency room parking lot, she spoke up. “I have an idea… but it’s a bad one.”

* * *

 

“We are the Crystal-Gems!”

“Leave a message!”

*beep*

“Ruby, Sapphire. Sorry to be calling so late. It’s Pearl, by the way. I’m at the hospital with Greg and Steven. Don’t worry, everything is fine. Well, um, Steven broke Greg’s wrist. It seems he’s beginning to develop Rose’s abilities but he’s too young for them to stabilize. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I can only think of one person in the whole world who might not be affected by Steven’s powers. Call me when you get this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's all, folks! Thanks for reading, it was a joy to write this.


End file.
